The true Meaning of Family
by DemonicAngelGREED
Summary: After watching the man he considered his brother die, Ziggy ran away to the wastes where he was found by a young man who in turn treated him like a son. but when an accident caused him to lose his life, Ziggy met a young brooding stranger without any pas
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** The True Meaning of Love**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 1

Ziggy stared at his hands in horror and then down at the gasping man on the floor, without thinking the young mobster fell to his side and tried to stem the blood flow that was so steadily rushing from his throat. The man gripped Ziggy's arm and gazed at him with intense eyes.

"Come on Jak, you can't die" he sobbed as he tried to save his mentor.

The man grinned weakly and then pointed to the exit that he had made for Ziggy to escape to the wastes. The teen shook his head and gripped the man tighter not afraid of the blood that was soaking through his white suit shirt. Jak seemed to realize that his protege was leaving his side till he was gone and relaxed into the youth's arms.

Ziggy held back another sob and ran through what had lead up to this point. It had been a normal day for him. He had woken up at The Cartel's mansion, gone out to the base and had a meeting with Fernso Bob, about his new mission which involved him taking out a target, had stolen a car, met up with Jak, had killed the young woman who owed his family money: yep it had been just another day in the mob, but somewhere something had gone wrong.

The target he had been instructed to kill had body guards and had followed the two criminals until they had them in a secluded area and then proceeded attack them. The two of them had been able to kill both of them but, it seemed that one of them had thrown his knife at Jak and had lodged itself in the bottom of his throat.

"Jak, your my family" he sobbed wiping his face, unknowingly smudging some blood on his face.

The man smiled even as his face turned white from blood loss and tenderly rubbed his cheek "a-nd yo-u min-e Z-ig" he whispered breathlessly.

Ziggy sobbed again at the use of his nickname and clutched Jak to him tighter and buried his face into his chest. He still remembered first meeting the other mobster:

_A seven year old Ziggy looked up at the elder man Fernso Bob, he'd called himself and then around himself at the mansion he'd been brought to it was a lot nicer than the orphanage. He had been pickpocketing a young woman when the nice elder man had spotted him and had offered him a place to stay for the night. _

_"What, you say your name was again kiddo" one of the younger men who had been in limo asked him kindly grinning like a shark._

_"Ziggy Grover sir" he said politely._

_The shark man smiled and hoisted him up and then turned him around "what do you think of the place" he asked._

_Ziggy took a second to look around him and then shrugged trying to mimic the elder kids at the orphanage when they were trying to act cool "It' aright I guess" _

_Frenso Bob barked out laughing and then ruffled his hair, "I like you kid, you got spunk" he said and then looked into his eyes "How bout we find you someone to stay with huh" _

_Ziggy gazed at the man in front of him in happiness. Stay, that meant that these people had adopted him: they were family. The young seven year old nodded happily and the Shark man laughed. _

_"Rion, put him in with Jak, I think the two of them will get on" Frenso Bob said before he acceded the stairs but then paused and looked back at Ziggy 'Welcome to the family kid"_

_Ziggy beamed happily and let the shark man-Rion he thinks his name is-lead him through the mansion until they reach a room where a young boy about thirteen was fighting some man with a black belt on. _

_'Jak" Rion called and the thirteen year old perked his head up. "These someone Frenso Bob wants you to meet" _

_The blonde haired boy nodded and then bowed to the man he was fighting before he jumped down and walked over to the two of them. "Hey there little buddy" he said happily as he saw Ziggy who grinned and waved at him. _

_Rion put Ziggy down who walked right up to Jak and put his hand out "I'm Ziggy. Ziggy Grover" he said in a strong voice-well as strong as a seven year old can be._

_Jak stared at him for a moment before he smiled widely and shook his hand happily "Well Ziggy, I'm Jak. Jak Strike" _

_Rion nodded and then crossed his arms "Ziggy here is the new addition to our family, your to look after him" he said before he walked out._

_Jak looked down at Ziggy and then picked him up "Well Zig, I think you and I are going to the best of Friends" _

Ziggy sobbed as the memory passed him, Jak hadn't been lying, for eleven years the two of them had been inseparable. Even when the two of them had ended up doing different jobs in the Catrel's the two of them had always thought of each other as brothers.

"Zig-gy, i-m so sor-ry" Jak gurgled "we we-re su-pp-osed t-o be t-og-eth-er f-o-r lif-e" he said weakly.

The younger boy smiled and brushed his mentor's hair out of his face and shook his head "Your always going to be with me Jak" he whispered.

Jak smiled and then sighed happily "Tha-nk-y-ou Zig" he whispered and then went limp.

Ziggy stared at his best friend for a moment before he laid him delicately on the floor and pulled a sliver chain from his neck and slipped it over his own. "I love you Jak" he said and then stood up.

Lying around the small clearing were the two bodies of his target's body guards and just a few meters away was the entrance to the wastes that he and Jak used regularly when they wanted to get away from the fighting and killing that the Catrel made them do. Without thinking Ziggy took a deep breath and began running towards the wastes forgetting he was in a mob, forgetting he had a family.

It had been two days since he had run out into the wastes and Ziggy was tired, sore, emotionally drained, and he hadn't eaten or drank anything since he'd left the domed city of Conrith. All he had done was run and now he was so far he couldn't even see the city any more, he didn't even care if Venjix found him, at least then he knew he would be able to see Jak again.

Suddenly the younger man felt his legs give out underneath him and he collapsed into the sand. Ziggy moaned as he closed his eyes to the closing sun, he was just so tired, maybe if he rested just a little then everything would be okay.

Just as the young man fell asleep and black and green motorbike flew into view and stopped when the rider saw Ziggy's blood smeared and unconscious form lying in the sand.

"What in the world" the rider whispered and then walked over to the boy and quickly moved into action when he saw the state the kid was in. "Don't worry kid, I gotcha" he whispered and then began to speed off through the desert.

When Ziggy awoke he found himself staring at a fire with a blanket covering him, he knew he hadn't fallen asleep here. Looking around blearily Ziggy noticed that he wasn't wearing his suit any more, he was wearing a dark forest green tank top with a sleeveless leather hooded tunic over the top with cargo pants and combat boots adorning his feet: these defiantly his clothes.

"Ah so he wakes up" a kind voice said.

Ziggy whipped his head around and saw a weathered blonde man with goggles pushed up on his face with a gotte smiling at him from across the fire, "Where am I?" he asked, his throat cracking from lack of sue and lack of moisture.

The man seemed to understand this because next thing Ziggy knew he was being handed a metal cup filled with water, which he began to guzzle only stopping when he began to feel sick. Ziggy put the cup down and looked around him once again in confusion making the man chuckle a little.

"My name is Cid and this is my home" he said simply as he cut into something that had to be meat.

Ziggy nodded and then cleared his throat "And where would that be. The last thing I remember was passing out in the wastes" he said taking another sip of water.

Cid nodded and began dishing out the meat for two people "Yeah, I found you. Were still in the wastes just in the abandoned city of Kilika" he said shrugging.

Ziggy nodded and then looked around a little more "Here you go" Cid said handing him a plate with the meat and a purple plant on it. The teen didn't even care and began wolfing it down with an enthusiasm that made Cid laugh.

"I forgot what a teenager acts like" he howled with laughter and Ziggy smiled at him sheepishly.

"Sorry" he said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Cid waved it away and then looked at him seriously "Okay kid, what were you doing out there" he asked "You looked dead when I found you"

Ziggy began fiddling with the necklace he'd taken from Jak as his memories caught up with him "I was running" he said in a sad voice.

Cid noticed the changed in demeanor in the young boy and began poking at the fire absently "From what"

This startled the boy who then looked down at his hands that while clean still had a reddish brown hue to them thanks to Jak's blood. "My brother was killed in Conith and I panicked" he said honestly "This was his" he said lifting up the necklace.

Cid's eyes soften and he pulled out a weathered picture from his pocket and handed it to Ziggy. The image was of Cid with his arm around a boy who looked about Ziggy's size and age but was the splitting image of Cid himself. "That is my boy" he said warmly.

Ziggy ran his fingers over the image tenderly and then looked back up at Cid "Where is he?"

"He was killed when Kilika fell" the man said with sorrow lacing his voice.

Ziggy immediately was filled with guilt and handed the man back his photo and hugged his bare arms "I'm sorry"

Cid shrugged and then bit his lip "Look i know we hardly know each other" he began

"What" Ziggy said in confusion making Cid grin.

"And i know it might seem strange considering we just met, but you don't seem to want to go back to Conith any time soon" he trailed off and Ziggy nodded prompting him to continue "I was wondering if you'd like to stay here...with me?"

Ziggy didn't even think off it, and before Cid could react he had an arm full of sobbing Ziggy "Thank you, Thank you, of course I will"

Cid grinned to himself and wrapped his arms around the young man and thanked the stars he'd finally found someone to spend his lonely life with.

It had been four weeks since Ziggy had come to live with Cid and since then the two of them had fallen into a great relationship. Cid would go out in the mornings on the bike to search for food while Ziggy would make sure no Grinders had foudn there hide out. Then Ziggy would learn the mechanics for the bike and would fix it if need be. Then they would go out and search the other abandoned towns to search for people.

Somehow during these easy going days Ziggy had found himself thinking of Cid as his new dad, so that's why four weeks after Jak's death when he saw a Grinder shoot shot his new day he felt his whole world crumble: again.

"CID!" he screamed and then rushed over to the dying man.

The blonde man grinned at him "Well doesn't this suck" he whispered faintly.

Ziggy shook his head and swallowed "You can't die, you still have to teach me everything. I can't survive on my own" he said looking down at the man who had saved his life.

"Ziggy, you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for" Cid said and then pulled his goggles off and presented them to the brunette "I want y-ou, to ha-ve the-m" he gasped as he began to tremble from the pain.

The young man gulped and nodded. Cid smiled and then sighed "that-s m-y bo-y" he said and began to gaze at the dark cloudy sky.

Ziggy smiled and laid the man down and gripped his hand tightly "when you see Lance tell him bout me okay" Ziggy asked talking about the Son Cid had been missing for a whole year.

Cid wheezed out a laugh and then nodded "o-f cou-rs-e, i'l-l eve-n fin-d Jak fo-r you" he said and coughed hard.

Ziggy smiled and shushed him "Just close your eyes Cid" he said and when the man did as he asked the young boy picked up the plasma blaster that was by his side and put in between Cid's eyes, "I'll take away the pain" he whispered and then pull the trigger and Cid went limp.

As Cid became lifeless the sky decided to let loose all the feelings of guilt and pain the young man was feeling and for the first time since the Venjix virus it began to rain. The young man stared at his hands, one held the plasma blaster that had just killed his new family and then other had been the one he'd stained with his brothers blood. He was all alone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** The True Meaning of Family  
><strong>Author: <strong>DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met an old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 2

Dillon pushed the accelerator down and sighed happily as his fire-bird flew through the desert. He had been searching for Conith for just over a month and it was irritating the hell out of him that he still hadn't found it.

As he turned sharply he decided now would be a good time to have a sugar intake and took the wheel with one hand and unwrapped one of his lemon candies and stuck it into his mouth. He had no idea why he liked the lollipops as much as he did but he did know that he liked them...a lot.

Decided to check his map while he was in a good mood, the dark haired man stopped his baby and pulled out his sonar gun. As he scanned the area he couldn't help but notice the tire tracks that littered the area around him, and they weren't car tires either, maybe someone else was out here with him.

When his readings came up all clear he turned around and began looking at his map and frowned when it once again gave him no answers. Growling frustration he threw the map on the floor and was about to swear loudly when he saw a figure leaning against a bike just on the top of the sandy hill staring at the sky.

Dillon looked down at his map and then at the lone figure and then shrugged. He was about to get back in his car when he heard a boyish tenor reach his ears, "You lost" it said simply.

The dark haired man turned around and saw that the figure still hadn't moved but had turned his head to look at him. "Yeah" he shouted nodding.

The figure stood up and brushed his hands on his pants before he got on his bike and rode over to him till he reached his side where he jumped of the green and black machine. Dillon stared at the goggle covered eyes and rose and eyebrow at the young man's state of dress. The boy looked like he was a thief, dressed in a leather hooded tunic and cargo pants.

"Where you need to go" the boy asked pushing his goggles to rest on his head, revealing two of the brightest doe brown eyes that Dillon had ever seen.

Dillon just stared at the boy and then cleared his throat "Conith" he said his gaze sweeping over the boy quickly assessing him.

After looking at him, Dillon had to grudgingly agree that the outfit the boy was garbed in looked good on him. The tunic fit just right and revealed the muscles that the boy would have otherwise hidden in any other clothes, and he looked practical for the desert.

"I know where that is" the stranger began and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Dillon nodded and picked up his map "Can you show me?" he asked holding up his map.

The young man sighed and then looked at his bike sadly for a moment "I can take you there if you want" he said looking into his eyes.

Dillon thought about it for a moment and then nodded "Good idea" he said and then walked back to the driver's door. "What's your name" he asked

The young man paused for a moment and then smiled happily at him, Dillon guessed he hadn't been asked that for a while "My Name is Ziggy, and yours"

The man looked down and shrugged "don't know think it starts with a D" he said and then slammed the door shut behind him.

Ziggy closed the door behind him and then looked at him for a moment before nodding "You look like a Dillon" he said happily not noticing Dillon's shocked look as he gazed at his bike forlornly "I'm gonna miss that bike" he said sighing.

Dillon didn't say anything and just started the car.

Ziggy watched as the sand flew passed him and sighed in anticipation, hadn't been back to Conith for two months, it had only been two months since Jak died and only a month since Cid and now he was leading some guy he'd named Dillon back towards the same city which had caused him to become homeless in the first place.

"Okay it should be visible in a few moments" he heard himself telling the quiet mysterious guy.

He didn't know what it was about the guy but he found himself liking Dillon, he wasn't anything like Jak who had been all smiles and happy joke, he wasn't like Cid who had been gruff affection and awesome stories. No Dillon was the type of guy who was letting him ramble on and on about things that he didn't care about and pitched in a word or two when he needed to. It was quite refreshing actually.

"Do you ever shut up" Dillon growled as Ziggy finished telling him about the time he had stolen the parts of a fallen grinder so that he could fix his bike.

The young man thought about it for a moment and then gave him a bright grin in return "No not really" he said and then began laughing, and unknowingly Dillon found himself smirking.

A few moments later just as Ziggy had declared the huge domed city of Conith became visible. Dillon grinned to himself and then looked over a Ziggy whose grin had brightened when his eyes looked at the city before them. How long had the younger man been out in the wastes, it was obvious it had been long enough for the kid to learn how to survive and the fix his own bike, but he didn't know for sure.

"Just as promise, the great city Conith" Ziggy said snarkily and then turned to his companion and spotted his stash of lollipops and grinned sneakily.

Dillon didn't even see it happen, one moment Ziggy was grinning at him and the next moment the younger man was unwrapping one of his lollipops and sticking it in his mouth. "How the hell" he said in shock.

Ziggy grinned at him from around the lollipop and then tapped his nose "It's a secret" he said around the candy making Dillon shake his head.

The younger boy was about to say something when large guns came out of the sand making him yelp in shock "Shit!"

Dillon looked at the guns in frustration and looked at Ziggy and growled "Explain!" as he dodged the cannon fire that was aiming for him baby.

Ziggy stopped freaking out and grabbed onto the dash for control "Conith is the last civilization that Venjix hasn't destroyed. These are the automotive defense weapons that protect the city from his army" he said quickly.

Dillon growled and was about to say something when he saw an opening and then grinned darkly "Hold on" and then pushed his fire-bird as fast as it could go and shot through the gun fire and through the opening...and straight onto of some ugly robot.

A figure dressed in yellow spandex jumped up and out of the way and Ziggy groaned unhappily "Great the power rangers" he moaned.

Dillon was about to say something when two more figures came rushing towards them, one dressed in blue and one in red.

"Come on we better go say hi" Ziggy grumbled and kicked the door open and leapt out of the car and lean't against its side and took in the city once again.

It hadn't changed since he left but somehow it seemed a lot different than before: more enclosed. Suddenly he felt a hand connect with the back of his head. "Ow what the hell Dillon" he snapped turned around to glare at the older man.

"Don't kick my car" he just said simply and then crossed his arms as the three figures walked over to them.

The red one held out his hand to Dillon who in turned just stared at it "Ah thanks for saving Ranger Yellow, she mightn't have made it out of there without your help" he said awkwardly.

Ziggy rolled his eyes and then froze when he saw the guards rushing towards them "Ah Dillon, I think we're in a bit of trouble" he said and then pointed to the wave of guards who were approaching them.

Dillon growled but let the men grab him but laughed when he saw Ziggy pull out of their grip "I'll go with you quietly geez, but do not touch me" the younger man snapped shocking the guards who stood either side of him dumbly as a serious bald black man stalked towards him.

"Scott" he said nodding at the Red guy.

"Dad" he replied stiffly and Dillon could just imagine the glare the son was giving the Coronel.

The army guy turned back to Ziggy and Dillon and glared at them fiercely "And who the hell do you think you are bashing through our defenses!" he asked while glaring.

Dillon shrugged and leveled his gaze at the commander "Well I was thinking that I wanted to get in there" he said simply.

The yellow ranger-who turned out to be a pretty blonde girl-stepped forward and lay her hand on his arm "Sir, these two saved my life. I know that they broke a few laws to do so but" she said trailing off uncertainly.

The Coronel looked down at the girl and shook his head "We can continue this chat later miss Landsdown but at this moment in time these two have to be detained" he said and then spotted how loosely guarded Ziggy was. "Why the hell isn't this guy subdued" he snarled.

Ziggy crossed his arms and rose and eyebrow at the bald man unimpressed "Well that would be because I said I would come quietly and I'd rather not have someone grabbing me thank you very much"

The Red ranger-who turned out to be a young man with dark skin gaped at the boy why the Blue ranger who was also a young man with short cropped hair cracked up laughing at the way the young man in front of them just dis-respected the highest military leader in Conith.

"Laddie high five" the blue ranger said stepping forward.

Ziggy smiled and slapped hands with the Scotsmen and then let him be herded towards the government SUVs with Dillon by his side.

Prison, Dillon had decided was extremely over rated. He had to wear and ugly orange jumpsuit and he was put in a private cell to the other criminals because 'he was dangerous'. But one thing that confused him was that he and Ziggy had been sent to separate trials but and the same time, and yet here he was sitting in his cell while Ziggy had yet to leave the trial room.

"Hey guard!" he snapped at the uniformed man who was walking pass his cell, "Where's the kid I was found with" he asked.

The guard smirked and shook his head "Oh Ziggy is being charged with a few more things than you, but don't worry he'll be in here any moment now" he said and then walked off whistling some tune.

A few more hours passed and Dillon was getting impatient when suddenly he heard very loud shouting, "Ziggy, you Bastard, where the Fuck have you been!" Dillon frowned, how the hell did those men know Ziggy so well.

After a few more shouts about Ziggy and about how he'd been the young man was shoved into the cell by a very pleased Guard who grinned at the youth happily.

"Thanks for the delivery but you can go see your boyfriends now" Ziggy snapped at the man who scowled at him and then stormed off causing the young man to laugh.

Dillon looked at Ziggy who was wearing an orange jumpsuit and couldn't help but notice at how it wasn't the boys color. "Hey" he said lying down on his bed.

Ziggy looked over to him and then smiled when he saw Dillon, "Dillon!" he said happily. "Am I glad to see you?"

Dillon smiled and let the boy carried on and ramble, truthfully it was comforting to the older man, a calming background noise.

A week had passed and Dillon could truly say that he was over the whole prison thing. He hated the way the guards treated him like some caged animal and he hated the way the other inmates looked at Ziggy in joy, like he was some sort of entertainment.

"You don't like it here much do you?" Ziggy commented not looking at him as he paced the length of the cell.

Dillon turned to Ziggy and gave him a confused stare "Do you!" he snapped.

The youth shrugged and then began tapping a calming rhythm on the brick wall "Nah, but I don't really get a say in many things. Never have" Ziggy said simply.

Dillon was about to reply when one of the nicer guards tapped on the cell bars lightly "Dillon, you got a visitor" he said cheerfully.

The prisoner looked over to Ziggy who shrugged and then turned back to the guard "But I don't know anyone...well except him" he said jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Ziggy who waved at the Guard.

The guard shrugged "It's the rangers, say they want to speak to you" he said and then opened to cell door and herded Dillon out the door, "Oh and Ziggy" he said looking at the younger inmate, "You got rec time"

Ziggy nodded and leapt off the bed and passed Dillon with a cheeky grin. The older man watched as a heavily scarred man watched Ziggy go and felt cold dared coil into his stomach.

"Oi Ziggy!" the youth stopped and turned to see a young man about twenty gazing up him with an evil smirk "You remember me?" he asked

Ziggy gulped and nodded and realized he was trapped by the circle that had formed around him, "Of course Ace, how could I not" he said sighing.

The group began to get louder and Ziggy looked around and sigh sadly "You really want to do this...again" he said looking at the other man as if he was stupid.

Ace glared at him and took a menacing step forward "You made me lose my place in my family; I dropped so low that they can't even be bothered to buy me out" he hissed "So yeah beating your arse would be awesome at this point"

Ziggy sighed and nodded "Okay"

Ace blinked and him owlishly "Okay" he parroted.

Ziggy nodded and then brought his foot up and slammed it into Ace's chin "Yeah okay" he mocked and bounced on the balls of his feet as the group of inmates cheered.

"Twenty that Ziggy kicks his arse again" one of them called

"Nah, Ace has been training for this since he got in here, I got thirty that he smashes the pipsqueak" another one yelled.

Ziggy tuned out and focused on the battle in front of him. Ace pulled himself to his feet and Ziggy reacted immediately and spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to the man's chest making him groan and stumble back.

"You were terrible the first time" Ziggy said and then leapt up and drop kicked the man on the shoulder making him fall to his knees "And your still terrible now" he said flipping away.

Ace growled and swept his leg out sending Ziggy to the floor and then kicked him in the face making a loud crack fill the room. Ziggy knew his nose was broke but he refused to lose to this man, and then swung his legs around sending Ace to the ground and then flipped himself over so his knee collided with the elder man's face making him cry out in pain.

"Go Ziggy!" a group of inmates yelled and the young prisoner decided to put the other man out of his embarrassment and as he got to his feet dizzily he deliver a spinning kick to the man's face making him collapse in a pool of his blood unconscious.

The guards who had watched on, just in case it got too heated surged forward and picked Ace up while they pulled Ziggy back towards his cell. "You couldn't even wait a week to get back into your old habits huh Ziggy" the guard growled and then slammed the cell door closed.

Ziggy shrugged and then snapped his nose back into place and laid down on his cot, waiting for his cellmate to get back.

When Dillon walked back into the call he was frowning at what he had on offer and when he was pushed into his cell he opened his mouth to tell Ziggy only to gasp when he saw the bloody state his friend was in.

"What the Fuck!" he growled and went over to Ziggy's side and inspected his face while the younger boy pushed him away, "What the hell happened!" he demanded.

Ziggy shrugged and settled back into his cot and starred at the ceiling "I got into a fight, I won he lost" he said as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

Dillon just chuckled and then leant against the cot "You get into a fight and I'm offered a way out of here" he said weakly.

Ziggy laughed happily and pushed his shoulder happily "Oh yeah did the rangers offer you a way out" he asked excitedly.

"They said they wanted me to be their black power dude" he said but then looked at Ziggy "But it means you'd be in here all alone"

Ziggy waved it away and smiled at him "I think you should take it, as long as you promise to get me out of here before I turn fifty" he said happily and then leant back "Wow I'm friends with a Power ranger" he said and then laughed happily.

Dillon looked up at his friend and smiled "I'll get you out Ziggy, I promise"


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 3

"I aint morphing once more: until you get Ziggy out of prison!" Dillon shouted at the red ranger who was glaring at him.

Summer bit her lip as she watched the standoff between the two men in front of her. Dillon had been a part of the team for the better part of a month, but during that time he had been begging them to get his cellmate and the young boy who had accompanied him into Cornith out of prison.

"It's a lot harder than you think to get someone out of prison!" Scott snapped "With you we had a reason, what possible reason would we need some young brat out of prison!"

The Blue ranger looked at Summer and then motioned her over. Flynn looked down at her and then over to the two arguing men and smiled at her slyly "I need you to keep these two occupied" he said after a moment.

"Why?" Summer asked hesitantly, slightly scared of the Scottish ranger in front of her.

Flynn looked around to make sure that Doctor K wasn't listening in on his plan and then looked back down on the yellow ranger beaming at her "I'm gonna go visit this infamous Ziggy. Check him out" he said with flourish.

Summer openly gaped at him and then looked at Dillon before giving her friend a confused look "Why would you do that" She hissed quietly.

"'Cause it's obvious that the kid means a lot to Dillon" Flynn said his accent coming out thick "We need him Summer, 'nd if this kid makes him feel more at home then I say it's worth lookin into" he said nodding.

The yellow ranger bit her lip and then nodded slightly at her friend "Go now, I'll cover for you" She whispered and then stood in front of him slightly so that he could get to his Hummer without being spotted.

"I'm gonna bash your pretty boy face in" Dillon snarled grabbing the lapels of Scott's jacket spurring the yellow ranger into action.

"Woah there" she cried and pushed herself in between them putting a hand on each of their chests, "Let's try to talk without trying to kill each other" she said looking into both their eyes.

Dillon stepped back and crossed his arms, his eyes flashing dangerously "I mean it. You want me to play along in your little team, you'll get Ziggy out of Prison!" he growled in a low voice.

"If I may" the mechanical voice of Doctor K blasted out through the com. startling the rangers who had forgotten the doctor's presence. "Maybe we should focus on something other than the life of a young boy and on the protection of Conith"

Dillon glared at one of the many Doctor K screen and then shook his head "I hope you have enough hope on your original rangers to protect the city because I aint putting on the spandex again until Ziggy is out of that hell hole!" he snapped and then stomped towards the stairs which would lead up to his room.

Flynn sat at the steel table and glanced around him at the guards who were looking at him in awe and grimaced in discomfort. He really didn't like the way they stared at him, he wasn't trying to be a hero, and he was just trying to do the right thing.

"But no one comes to visit me" a young whining voice said

Flynn grinned at the voice, this must be Dillon's Ziggy, the way the black ranger described the boy it wouldn't be strange at all for the kid to be whining, "Unless it's Dillon" the voice said in a happy voice, "Is it Dillon. Remember: tall brooding serious guy, that I always hung around...no?"

Flynn looked up expectantly as the voice got closer and when he spotted the young man in the orange jumpsuit, any and all expectations he had for the boy were dashed out the door. Instead of seeing a spunky, healthy young man with a bit of cheek to him: the boy that was sat in front of him was someone who looked like they'd gone ten rounds with a battering ram.

Ziggy looked at him happily and then waved at the guard that bought him in who just chuckled and waved back as he closed the door. Then he turned back to Flynn and held his hand out.

"Hiya I'm Ziggy" he said in a light voice and without even a second thought Flynn found himself reaching for the hand automatically.

"Name's Flynn, I'm the Blue Ranger" he said looking Ziggy over in shock.

Ziggy's face was bruised, his jaw had a nice black one that spread from his jaw to cheek bone, he had a bandage over one eyebrow and side of his neck. But he was smiling widely when Flynn told him this.

"Really!" he asked excitedly and Flynn found himself grinning at the boys enthusiasm "How's Dillon, when I told him to take the offer to become the Black Ranger he was a bit hesitant"

Flynn watched as the boy got more and more enthusiastic and when he almost bounced out of his steel seat he held up a hand and laughed loudly "Dillon's fine Laddie, I'm here to see you though" he said smiling comforting.

Ziggy looked at him expectantly and Flynn took this moment to look the boy over more closely. The young man's knuckles were bandaged and had spots of blood peppering them. His right wrist was bound in a bandage and his left shoulder looked a little more padded then his right.

"What happen' to ur shoulder Lad" he asked in a friendly voice.

Ziggy looked at his shoulder and then laughed "Oh it was dislocated this mornin, or was it last night...dunno" he said shrugging and Flynn looked at him in shock.

"You fight a lot?" he asked leaning towards the boy a bit more.

The younger man nodded and then winced as he leaned on his shoulder a bit too much "I have a lot of enemies" he said simply but then grinned "But I've never had a visitor, so this is awesome"

Flynn gulped and took the boy's hands and gazed at the bloody bandages that covered his knuckles. "Is this why Dillon wants you out so badly eh?" he asked kindly, if this was why then he could understand.

Ziggy's face became serious and he shook his head slightly "No. Dillon has no idea bout this. I mean I got into a fight the day he left. But he thinks that was a onetime thing" he said in a low voice.

Flynn looked over at the guards and then nodded "I'm gonna help get you out of he're. No Lad should hav' to fig't to surv'ie" he said and then stood up, "Just wait a little long'r eh Ziggy?" he said smiling.

Ziggy looked up at him and gave him a half hearted salute and then stood up and let the guard lead him back to his cell.

Another week passed and Ziggy had given up hope of ever getting out of the prison and had let himself fall into a place in the prison system. At this moment in time he was facing off against a inmate from a rival mob who had taken a distinct dislike to him.

"You know your just a little bug" the larger man laughed as Ziggy spat out the blood that had gathered in his throat.

The younger fighter chuckled weakly and then flipped himself to his feet and delivered a swift kick to the man's stomach and followed it by an uppercut the made the man's jaws crack loudly. Ziggy jumped and twisted mid air and slammed his heel into the man's nose and felt smug when he heard the satisfying crunch of the bone shattering.

"Oi enough!" one of the guards shouted and pulled the fight apart and shoved the young inmate towards the other Scorpions in the jail that pushed him away as if burned.

After checking to make sure the other was alive the guard sighed and turned towards Ziggy who was bleeding steadily from a deep cut above his eyes and his mouth was stained red. He also seemed to be favoring his right leg. "Come on Ziggy, time to see the nurse again" he said and pushed the young prisoner to the nurse's office once again.

When the nurse saw Ziggy being herded into her office once again she let out a tired sigh and began patching the young kid back up silently and then watched as the guards pushed him back to his cell. Why the guards let the young inmate out at the same time as the others he had no idea but it was obvious to her that the younger boy couldn't take the beatings for much longer.

Later that day a guard came up to his cell with a big grin for the normally happy inmate and shook him awake.

"Ziggy wake up" he said and smiled as the younger prisoner blinked at him blearily.

"What's up Derek" Ziggy asked yawning.

The guard didn't say anything but quietly herded the young man to the wardrobe where they let the young boy get dressed in the clothes he had been in before the orange jump suit had become his. They even gave him back his goggles.

"Derek Seriously what's going on" Ziggy asked as he pushed his goggles up onto of his head.

The guard paused and beamed at his favorite prisoner "Your getting out!" he whispered happily.

Ziggy stared at the guard for a moment and then smiled excitedly. Derek pushed open the gates and Ziggy had never felt as happy to see Dillon as he did at that moment.

"Dillon!" he cried and rushed over to his friend who was looking at him in shock. "Flynn!" he said in shock as he saw the blue ranger smiling at him warmly.

"Told you I'd get you did't I Lad" he said and then threw him a jacket which he shrugged on. "Now get in"

Dillon looked at Ziggy in shock as he took in his state. When Flynn had come back to the garage a week earlier and told him what state he'd seen Ziggy in he hadn't believed the blue ranger, but now that he could seen the various injuries that covered his friends body he couldn't stop the wave of guilt that flushed through him.

"Dillon!" he heard Ziggy call his name making his head snap up to see Ziggy's brown eyes staring at him warmly. "Thank you"

The black ranger grinned and nodded, happy to know that his friend was safe, now that he was out of the prison that was sure to have killed him.

When the two of them arrived back at the garage Flynn grimaced when he spotted Scott standing out the front with a steely glare on his face and his arms crossed. "Oh boy" he muttered and looked back at Ziggy who was grinning like a maniac.

"So this is the Ziggy who took up so much of our time" Scott said, obviously unimpressed "and here I thought you would have looked a little more...different" he said blandly.

Dillon growled but was stopped when Ziggy nodded and then snorted "Your the leader right?" he asked Scott who nodded, the young man smiled and Dillon was sure something was about to go down "Huh, and here I thought you'd be a little more...Intimating" he said and then shrugged walking passed the gaping red ranger.

Flynn stared at Scott for a moment before he collapsed into laughter; Dillon grinned and then walked past the shocked leader and followed his friend who had met up with Summer who was fussing over his wounds already.

"My god, look at you" she said in distress and she flittered around him "You look like someone's punching bag"

Ziggy smiled and held out a hand to stop the girls worrying "I'm fine, but I'd love a bed" he said in a relieved voice.

"He is to stay in the spare room" Ziggy yelped and jumped behind Summer as the screen next to him spoke.

Summer laughed at the boy's antics and felt warmth spread through her at the childish demeanor the boy had "Ziggy, you don't need to worry. This is just Doctor K. He's the one who created the ranger program"

Ziggy stood up and cleared his throat uneasily "Oh, well...still doesn't make it less creepy" he said shrugging.

"Yes, well Ziggy is to take the room next to Series Green intended room" the screen said again.

The young man looked up and then nodded to the screen "Thanks' Doc. Oh and just for a heads up, I think I broke your red ranger" he said cheekily and then bounced up the stairs.

Ziggy looked down the catwalk and smiled as he looked at each door individually. The first one had Scott printed on it in bright cherry red letters. The next had Flynn blasted on it in a midnight blue color, next door down had Summer written beautifully in sunshine yellow on the grey door, the door after that had Dillon's name stiffly written on the metal in dark black paint.

The door after Dillon's was blank, but Ziggy could feel himself being drawn into the room, so without questioning the strange tugging feeling he opened the door and gasped in awe at the beautiful green room before him.

The walls were painted a deep forest green, the bed had moss green sheets on it and Ziggy could feel the power radiating from the room. More than that, it felt like him.

"This room is intended for the next Green Ranger" Ziggy whipped around and saw Summer standing in the door way smiling at him warmly.

"Really" he said in a disappointed voice, and then gazed at the room once more in remorse "It's beautiful in here" he said lightly.

Summer smiled and stepped in to stand next to him "Yeah, I mean I can't see myself in here, but...this room is beautiful" she said and then smiled at him brightly "Now shall we see your room"

Ziggy hesitantly nodded and then slowly walked out the room but not before the he gave the Green room a longing backwards glance. The next room down was the spare room and when Summer opened it Ziggy couldn't say that it was Ugly. It just seemed a little too bright for him. The room was painted a light gold with silver splashes adorning the walls.

"This will be your room" Summer said with a flourish "I don't know where K got her color scheme from but this is the only dual colored room" she said brightly.

Ziggy smiled and then nodded "Cool, I'm special" he said and then sat down on the bed and made an approving noise at its bounciness.

Summer laughed and then started to the door, "I'll leave you to it, tomorrow I'll take you shopping and get you some new clothes and other items to make this your room okay?"

Ziggy nodded and smiled, he liked Summer she was really nice, in fact the only person he had yet to really like was Scott. "Thanks" he said holding back a yawn.

The yellow ranger smiled at him warmly and then closed the door behind her as she left, and only when she was gone did Ziggy collapse back on the bed and let himself fall asleep, into dream land.

"I think young Ziggy is an interesting subject" the Doctor K screen said as Scott paced back and forth in front of it.

The Red ranger stopped and gaped at the screen "You think he's interesting?" he said in open disbelief.

The black ranger snorted as he continued to work on the Fury as if nothing was out of the ordinary and then looked up at Flynn who was frowning at the collection of cars in silence, he knew the blue ranger was trying to figure out where they'd end up putting both the soon to arrive Green ranger's vehicle and Ziggy's once they found him one.

"You're just upset because Ziggy spoke back to you" he said and then pushed himself out from under the black fire-bird.

Scott growled and was about to say something when Summer cleared her throat from behind him. "Ziggy is a nice boy, and we will be nice to him" she said glaring at the red ranger who nodded quickly making sure he didn't anger her. When she saw this her smile brightened and Summer bounced over to the pool table where she quickly racked up.

"I got it!" Flynn shouted happily and then rest of the team turned to face him and give him confused looks making him blushed and mutter to himself about never being understood.

Dillon smiled and then looked up at the stairs and let out relieved breath, his friend was safe and he could protect him now, everything was going to be okay.

"Hey do you think Ziggy can cook" Flynn asked suddenly making the other rangers laughed at the absurd question. "What I'm being serious!" he protested.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 4

It was seven in the morning when the others rangers were awoken by the beautiful smell of breakfast being cooked. Over the last two weeks the heavenly smell of omelets and bacon had awoken them, since Ziggy took over the housework of the Garage that was. The young man had healed all his injured and was now a bouncy and energetic young man who had become a permanent figure in their lives.

When he had taken over all the house work: Cooking and Cleaning Flynn and Summer had objected until Ziggy had said that he wasn't going to just live here without doing anything, so now he was there personal butler in every way. He would cook, clean, go shopping with Summer, work of the cars with Flynn, monitor and help Scott with his training and would distract Dillon when he got in a particularly grumpy mood.

As the rangers stumbled into the kitchen they were met by the beaming face of Ziggy who was dishing out bacon onto a large plate next to a range of plates filled with waffles, fruit, eggs and sausages.

"Hope you're hungry" he said as he ran the hot water over the pan as he finished the dishes.

Flynn moaned in happiness and was about to reach for some food when Summer smacked his hand away, "Summer" the blue ranger whined "I'm hungry!"

The yellow ranger pointed to the dining table and then smiled at Ziggy who had already set it up beautifully "Thank you Ziggy. Will you be joining us?" she asked as he brought over the bowl of fruit to the table.

The young man shook his head and dusted his hands on apron before he slipped it off, "Nah, I got to clean the Ranger room, and with Doc watching me it takes a few hours longer than it should" he said and cracked his knuckles.

Summer nodded and then let the boy go; before she joined her team who had all began to eat the large amount of food that Ziggy had prepared for them. When she had taken the boy shopping she had been surprised at the taste the boy had, until he had told her he was gay. It had made a little more sense but when she had questioned the boy, Ziggy had been able to tell the difference between Jag skinny black jeans and the Ralph Lauren pairs she had given him.

"How did we survive without him" Flynn groaned as he shoved the sausages into his mouth.

Scott laughed and then nodded, despite their rocky start it had only taken a few moments for the bubbly young man to worm his way into his heart. "Ziggy does make thing run a little smoother" he said and then glared as Dillon gave him a smug look "Shut it Dillon" he barked making the other rangers laugh.

"The boy is quite the emo dresser though isn't he" Flynn commented suddenly.

Summer nodded and thought back to how the boy was dressed, black skinny jeans, clack shirt with a green symbol plastered on the back with a leather arm band, his goggles adorning his head and she was sure he was wearing a bit of eyeliner.

"Yeah but that's what makes Ziggy, Ziggy" Dillon said shoving tow waffles in his mouth.

The others all shrugged and went back to their meals, and then once they were finished and everything was gone, Ziggy appeared almost from thin air and collected their plates, "All done?" he asked cheekily as he moved off to the kitchen to finish the dishes.

Scott burped and then patted his stomach happily and hummed in affirmation. Ziggy laughed and then clapped getting the rangers attention.

"Right so if I remember correctly, today is a big day" he said and the rangers all tuned in as Ziggy ran through their tasks for the day. "Scott: you have a meeting with your father at twelve, Flynn your father expects you to help out at the auto-shop today, Summer you have a lunch date with your parents today and yes I'll help you get ready, and Dillon you said that you wanted to go and explore the city" he said looking at each of the rangers in turn.

This was just another thing Ziggy had taken on when he had started taking care of the Garage, he had started reminding the others of what they had to do early in the morning when he found out that they were almost late to have their meetings and events because they forgot about them.

"Thanks' Zig" Dillon said warmly.

At the sound of Jak's nickname for him Ziggy froze and his eyes went wide with fright, the pain of losing the older boy was still there and the sound of his nickname made it rush through him strong, but at the same time, hearing Dillon say it so warmly made happiness flush through him and before he realized what was happening he was beaming at the elder.

"No problem" he said giving each of the rangers a bright grin.

Ziggy continued to scrub the floor as he listened to the doctor K screen go on and on about his bio-field and how it was very strong for someone who wasn't bonded to a morphor. He really was bored out of his mind but he wouldn't say anything, apparently according to the other rangers this scientific talking was just the Doc's way of saying that he cared for him.

"And if my theories are correct it means that Venjix may find you to be a target" the screen finished and Ziggy's head shot up in fear.

"Wait, what rewind for a sec there: target?" he said in a scared voice.

"That is correct Ziggy. Venjix will find you to be quite an interesting subject. May even try to turn you into a half bred like Series Black" the screen said confirming the younger mans fears.

Ziggy groaned and then looked around himself "Well then I'm just going to have to become a hermit aren't I?" he snarked

"That would be impractical Ziggy" Doctor K said "Considering Tomorrow you and the other rangers begin your search for the Ranger Green operator"

Ziggy picked up his bucket and nodded at the clean floor before gathering his window cleaning supplies and strode over to the cases where the ranger suits were displayed. "The things I do for you" he grumbled as he began polishing Scott's suit case.

"The rangers and I are very grateful to you Ziggy for all you are doing for us" Dr K said with a kind voice-or at least as kind as a mechanical computer can get.

The young man snorted and then smiled warmly into the glass case, before he moved onto the next case which housed Flynn's suit. "Hey Doc" he asked kindly.

"Yes Ziggy?"

"Well you know how you need this Green ranger still?" he asked as he polished the glass carefully and to the very most detail.

"Yes?" the screen asked in a puzzled tone.

Ziggy grinned and then looked at the screen above him and cocked his eyebrow "Well then why'd the heck did you let Dillon become the _black _ranger" he asked in an amused voice.

A moment of silence past and Ziggy couldn't help but become intrigued until he heard a staticy sigh "Because when I created, the Ranger Green suit, I forgot to calibrate the suit to fight a larger form. Ranger Operator Series Black wouldn't have been unable to morph comfortably"

Ziggy stared at the screen for a moment and then nodded "I won't say a word" he said seriously and then turned back to his work and began humming a beautiful tune.

A few moments later the backing music for the song flowed through the speakers of the garage making Ziggy grin and then start to sing happily, he knew he was in no way an amazing singer but he did know that he had a nice voice, or at least one that people could listen to without their ears bleeding.

"Wow Zig, never thought you'd be a singer" Dillon said as he followed the younger man's voice into the ranger room where he was lovingly polishing the glass windows.

The younger man smiled at him and shrugged "It was something Cid taught me out in the wastes" he said and then smiled sadly at the thought of his old father figure before he shook himself, "He taught me a few songs, but Early One Morning was my favorite"

"Early One Morning" Dillon asked in confusion.

"That name of the song Series Black" Doc K said "It was a old Irish folk song and was normally sung with a pipe in accordance"

Ziggy smiled and then moved onto the Ranger Green suit and stared at it for a moment, he couldn't tell why but there was something about the green power suit that made him stop and think about things for a moment. He had never really wanted anything before; the cartels hadn't really given him room to.

Fernso Bob had given him what he thought would be best and as one of his youngest "sons" he took it gratefully and thanked the elder man happily. Then as he got older he had been too busy with the different jobs he had been given. But as he stared at the green suit in front of him he couldn't help but want it, and it was strange for him.

"..Iggy…Ziggy!" The younger man was startled back into reality as he heard Dillon calling him.

"Huh?"

Dillon smirked and ruffled Ziggy's hair making him push the elder away before giving him a bright grin "Ah so he returns from dream land" the black ranger joked.

"Ha Ha. You're so funny" Ziggy said and then began to polish the glass window trying to keep his gaze of the suit that in the next few days would find a new owner.

Dillon looked at the younger man affectionately and then wandered over to the kitchen where a large plate covered with his name on it was lying innocently on the bench "Ziggy?" he called back uncertainly.

"It's for you" the young man called back "The others were going to be out all day so I took the intuitive to make you something"

Dillon lifted the cover and couldn't stop the warm smile that spread across his face when he looked down at the handmade pizza that was lying innocently there.

Ziggy stared at the group of people before him and couldn't stop the groan that fell from his lips. None of the people before him were good enough to be the green ranger, hell he would have been a better candidate for being a ranger-or at least that's what he wanted to believe.

"No luck" Ziggy turned around at the sound of the pretty female voice and smiled at the brunette standing before him.

The girl looked fit and was dressed for the gym which raised Ziggy's hopes just a fraction. "Yeah you could say that" he said grinning.

The girl moved up beside him and smiled at him warmly, "What's wrong with them" She asked motioning to the others with her head.

The young man barked out a laugh and then shook his head sadly "They all have the will and the heart to become the green ranger but they are missing one key point of being a Power ranger" he said "They need to know how to fight" he said plainly.

The girl nodded slowly and then stepped in front of him "I'm Tenaya. I have a black belt in Ju Jit Su" she said proudly.

Ziggy stared at her for a moment and then enveloped her in a tight hug. "Thank you" he cried and then began pulling her towards the theater where the other rangers were waiting for him to return. "You're going to go great!"

Ziggy was so focused on the joy of having a ideal candidate that he didn't look back and notice that Tenaya's eyes flashed red for a moment and she was smirking happily at his back.

It turned out that Ziggy had found the jackpot when he had found Tenaya, and it seemed that the other rangers agreed with him because moments after finding out that she could go toe to toe with Summer who was a black belt herself they sent him back to the garage to get the morphor.

Ziggy bounded into the garage and smirked when he saw how bored Dillon looked as he tried to learn his shield ability. "Doc! I'm here for the morphor" he called out happily.

The black ranger turned around and smiled at him but his eyes were screaming out for help which was something new to the younger man. "Hey Ziggy" Dillon drawled in a blatant attempt to keep the younger man there.

"Hey Dill" Ziggy said beaming and then there was a bright flash and the green morphor was by his feet.

"Ziggy, this is the Series Green Morphor: which means you have to guard this with your life!" K said over the intercom.

"Yes sir" Ziggy said sliding the morphor into his bag and then gave Dillon and the Doctor K screen a quick salute before he was rushing out of the garage and towards the theater.

The run back to the theater didn't take as long as Ziggy thought it would take and when he arrived he wasn't even winded, but what he found when he arrived scared the hell out of him. When he walked into the clearance room he was terrified when he saw that Tenaya was beating down the several guards that had been put in charge with giving her clearance.

"Venjix!" Ziggy heard himself snarling.

Tenaya looked up at him and frowned in confusion at his furious tone "that was unexpected from someone so small" she said plainly.

Ziggy glared at her and pulled his bag closer to him. He had no idea where his anger came from, but ever since he had learnt how to fight he had acquired a fury that was almost feral in a way, but unconditionally his. "Yeah well we aren't always what we say we are!"

Tenaya gave the younger man a warm deceiving smile and took a few steps towards him and held out her hand "I like you" she said as she raked his body with her mechanical eyes "If you give me the morphor then I'll let you be my pet" she said cocking her head to the side.

"Hmmm let's see….how about no" Ziggy growled and then turn and fled. Tenaya sighed and then took off after the younger man.

Ziggy took a deep breath and vaulted himself over a brick wall and then scrambled under a broken down car, before he started fishing out the communicator he had be gifted with a week earlier.

"Doc!" he hissed as he heard Tenaya's whistling of Farmer in the Dell getting closer to his position.

_What is it Ziggy?_

The young man pulled himself away from the intimidating whistling so that he leaning against one side of the car and gasped as the adrenaline flooded his veins, "Ah it turns out Tenaya was one of Venjix's attack bots, and has been chasing me around the city tiring to get the morphor!"

Ziggy took another deep breath and steadied it and tried to calm his frazzled nerves when he heard Dillon's voice snarl out of the communicator:

_Ziggy keep moving! I'm coming for you!" _

The younger man was going to say something when he heard the beating footsteps of Tenaya rushing to his position getting louder and then decided to leg it. The attack bot leapt and grabbed Ziggy's wrist just as he began to run off and peered deep into his brown eyes and frowned.

"You are different to normal humans" she said "You are able to run for longer than any normal person should"

Ziggy glared and the attack bot and shrugged out of his jacket and began running away from her at the fastest speeds he could go. He leapt over baskets, walls and he was pretty sure he even ran over the top of a car at one stage just to get away from the attack bot that seemed to have taken such an interest in him.

"ZIGGY!" he heard Dillon shout and he froze.

Looking down from the car he was perched on top he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Fury tearing down the street towards him. "Dillon!" he shouted as he panted harshly.

The fury closed into his position and stopped violently next to him and Dillon swung the door open "Get in!" he shouted and Ziggy wasted no time in throwing himself into the black car.

'Go, go, go!" Ziggy shouted and Dillon stepped on the accelerator and the Fury became a carefully control black blur speeding down the streets.

"How the hell'd you stay away from her?" Dillon shouted as Ziggy threw his bag down and slid the morphor into his jean pocket.

"I don't know. I ran" Ziggy panted as he tried to catch his breath, his lungs burning from the lack of air.

Dillon clamped his jaw shut as they reached the docks and slowed down a fraction, but it seemed that a fraction was all Tenaya needed because as soon as he did she had leapt upon the car bonnet causing Dillon to slam on the breaks. Ziggy couldn't help but notice that she was wearing some ugly visor to hide her identity.

"Hang on" Dillon shouted and was about to reverse when the attack bot reached through the open window and yanked Ziggy through the opening and caused him to land painfully on the cement.

The young man ignored the pain and pulled himself into a crouch with his two hands resting on the ground so he took a animalistic pose while Tenaya gazed at him smugly "You crazy bitch!" Ziggy snarled.

Dillon didn't think about talking to the attack bot and launched into a flurry of attacks which the girl easily blocked but seemed to be intrigued by him, and when she pulled him close she finally addressed him.

"You've had upgrades" she commented lightly.

"Who are you?" Dillon grunted as he tried to get out of the attack bot's grip.

"I am Tenaya generation 7: human infiltration Attack bot, I am your thoughts, I am your memories-"

"I really don't care" Dillon growled and delivered a swift kick to her stomach making her fly into a wall behind her. Then with a smirk he quickly morphed "RPM! Get in gear!"

Ziggy watched happily as his friend turned into his Black ranger formed and palmed the Morphor in his pocket making sure it was still there. Tenaya saw this and smirked, now at least she knew that the young man had the device on him, and so she set to work quickly taking out the black ranger who was causing her so many problems.

Ziggy looked up alarmed when he heard Dillon groan, but before he could even shout his friends name Tenaya was in front of him reaching for his pocket. Ziggy saw this and then reached for it first and managed to hold it away from the attack bot.

"Not today" he growled as he wrestled her for it, not noticing that it was lying straight against his wrist.

Tenaya didn't notice either because she foolishly pulled the lever up. Ziggy saw this and then slammed the lever down, and then his vision flashed neon green.

Deep in her lab, Doctor K looked at each of her rangers stats as the rushed to fight the gofer bot that was heading towards the city when she saw the ranger green suit disappear.

'Oh no!" she gasped and rushed to the final screen which flashed to life.

"_Warning, Lupine DNA already evident in Subject" _The computer relayed to her making her frown.

'Over ride!" she snapped

The computer made a large buzz making her eyes widen _"Unable to override. DNA is a part of subjects base DNA" Doctor_ K groaned and ran her hands through her hair when the computer made a chiming noise _"Subject is allowing DNA morphor bonding sequence to activate: evaluation of physical subject-perfect host" _

K looked at the computer screen warily as the new ranger stats flashed across her screen, who was this person who was the ranger greens perfect match?

Ziggy shook his head as the green faded from his vision but then froze when he noticed he was looking out of a helmet visor, he didn't, he couldn't have.

"Please no" he whispered and then began patting his body as if to make sure what he was thinking wasn't real, but to his display he was garbed in the bright green spandex suit, helmet and all.

"I'm a Power ranger!" he shouted and then looked up at Tenaya who had her lip curled in disgust "I don't wanna be a Power ranger" he shouted and leapt back into a crouch as the attack bot swiped at him.

Dillon stared at Ziggy in shock as he continued to dodge the attack bot's moves, "I really can't be a Power ranger!" he shouted once more before he kicked up hitting the robot in the stomach making her kneel over a little at the unexpected attack.

"Ziggy!" he called over the worried green ranger "Come here!"

The younger ranger hurried over to his side and stared at Tenaya who glared at Ziggy pointedly "You will pay for this" she hissed and then threw a ball on the floor at their feet.

'Huh?" both rangers asked before the ball beeped once and exploded into smoke.

When the smoke cleared Dillon turned and looked at Ziggy who was staring at his hands and then put his hadn on the younger's shoulder making him look up at him quickly. A moment passed and Dillon couldn't figure out what to stay so instead gulped and shrugged "Come on"

Ziggy followed after Dillon without missing a beat and when the black ranger broke into a run the green ranger was only a step behind. When the two of them reached a more forest covered area, Ziggy froze as he heard a thundering below him.

"Dillon wait!" he cried and then pulled the black ranger back just in time to save him from the large attack bot that blasted through the ground just where Dillon had been about to step.

Dillon looked back at Ziggy who was focused on the bot and then thanked his luck that his friend had been paying attention. The two rangers got ready to face the monster when three blurs rushed in front of them making Ziggy's limbs lock together and fear to crawl up his throat.

Flynn was the first one to spot Ziggy and pointed at him in shock "Oh my god!" he cried and Ziggy then looked up at him thanking whatever god that was looking out for him that they couldn't tell who he was.

Summer looked over at Ziggy and then pulled Scott to get his attention "No way" she whispered and was about to say something when the green ranger tackled her just in time to save her from the arm that the golfer bot had swung in her direction.

"Thanks" she panted at the green ranger above her who nodded and then jumped up and delivered a quick kick to the bot making him stumble.

Dillon grinned at Ziggy's enthusiasm and joined Ziggy's attack with a kick of his own. The other rangers watched the black and green ranger work together and finally realized why the Doctor was so forceful about getting the two other rangers on the team. The red, blue and yellow rangers were a team that they were a part of but they were a team in their own right.

When Ziggy was slammed into a nearby tree Dillion quickly forgot about the monster and ran to Ziggy's side leaving the monster to the original rangers who quickly got to work. But it turned out that the new bot was too strong for the three rangers and quickly took them all out.

"Come on!" Dillon urged dragging Ziggy after the digger bot who was terrorizing Conith.

The three original rangers stared after the green and black ranger and Flynn was the first one to say what was on all of there minds.

"Who was that!" he asked in shock.

Summer shrugged and then rubbed her shoulder where the green ranger had slammed into her to save her "I have no idea. But he did save my life" she said "and that is good enough for me"

It turned out that the golfer bot, why strong was very stupid and had left a large trail of destruction for the two rangers to follow. Dillon had dragged Ziggy for ten minutes before the green ranger froze and then pointed right in front of him where the large robot was snarling at them.

"I think he's mad" Ziggy said his voice shaking slightly.

Dillon didn't respond but instead drew the blaster at his side and gave Ziggy's a quick stare, sighing Ziggy drew his own blaster and then leapt up into the air with his friend, he just knew he was going to look so stupid.

"Ranger weapon: Nitro blaster" the called out and then shot several times blasting the creature with each shot and for once Ziggy was completely thankful for the shooting lessons that Jak had given him.

When they landed Dillon clapped Ziggy on the shoulder and gave him a quick nod before they stood side by side, "Ready: Ranger weapon!" he shouted

"Download!" Ziggy finished hoping that it worked, and then to his amazement a large axe appeared in front of him.

"Lustier Blaster!" Dillon shouted as he wielded a large black blaster, which looked completely natural in the black rangers hands.

Ziggy gulped and wrapped a hand around the handle of the axe and suddenly he knew that the weapon was meant for him. "Nitro Axe!" he said and then did a quick swipe with it before resting it on his shoulder like a baseball bat.

Dillon grinned when he saw his tiny friend wield the weapon, which was almost as large as he was with ease. "Nice axe" he said and then leapt at the golfer bot using his blaster as a sword just as easily.

The young ranger watched the fight closely and when he saw Dillon stepped back he jumped forward and swung the blade in an uppercut making the machine stumble back with a pained roar. Ziggy swung the blade again catching the beast in the face tearing out an optic. The Golfer bot was livid at this point and began beating down the younger ranger who used his axe as a shield.

Dillon saw Ziggy crouched with his axe acting as a shield and then saw a golden opportunity for something they could dub as "their" move. "Ziggy launch pad" he shouted hoping the green ranger would understand.

Luckily Ziggy did and straightened his arms so that his axe was flat against his back. The black ranger grinned and then raced up Ziggy's back and leapt off firing his blaster quickly. The golfer bot fell and Ziggy jumped up and without a word they connected their weapons. "Oh yeah!" Ziggy said smugly.

Dillon grinned and nodded "Nitro Lustier Blaster" they shouted and then Dillon pulled the trigger.

The green and black blast hit the golfer bot sending it sparking and unmoving. Then it began to grow. Ziggy gulped and stepped back until they saw the Megazord come out of nowhere and began to beat it down.

"You did good Zig" Dillon whispered and put a hand on Ziggy's shoulder.

The green ranger stood in front of the others and fidgeted uncomfortably as the others inspected him closely.

"You'r Kinda Short" Flynn commented "But I guess considering how fast you were out there, it works in your favour" he said his accent coming through strong.

Ziggy shifted again and Dillon decided that it would be a good time to take charge of the situation. "Right: Fellow Rangers, Creepy Doctor K screen" he said addressing each of them before he went to stand next to his friend. "I present you with: your new Green ranger"

Ziggy took a deep breath and powered down the suit letting the green energy flow back into his body. A gasp filled the room and Ziggy didn't have to look up to know that it had been Summer who had gasped, he knew that they would be shocked but still...it hurt a little.

"No way" The yellow ranger whispered and took a step towards the younger man hesitantly reaching out almost as if he wasn't real "Ziggy?"

The younger man nodded sadly and locked eyes with Scott who was glaring at the morphor that was snugly strapped to his wrist "Scott..." he began only to be halted when he held up a warning hand.

"No, this isn't possible!" he hissed and then turned to Dillon "What the heck happened out there"

Ziggy looked down and then clenched his hands into fists "I stopped Tenaya Seven from getting the Morphor at any means-I was doing what the doc asked of me" he said softly.

The red ranger turned and gave Ziggy a tired look and then shook his head "Look Ziggy, you can't just chose to become a power ranger-"

"YOU THINK I DON"T KNOW THAT!"

The other rangers-Dillon included-took a shocked step back at the furious tone in the young green rangers voice, not once had they ever heard him scream or raise his voice. "Ziggy" Summer said in a clam voice.

Ziggy looked away from them and clenched his fists tighter so that his knuckles were white "You think this is what I wanted?" he whispered "I just wanted to help, not to become a power ranger" he said and choked when he felt his throat tighten. "I'm the worst possible candidate to be a ranger" he admitted sadly.

Dillon but his hand on Ziggy's shoulder and the younger man shook his head and gave them all a sad smile "Look I can't offer you more than my best. I can fight but I'm not used to any of this so you're going to need to be patient with me" he admitted before he started to walk towards his room only to be stopped by Summer who had grabbed his wrist.

"You have a new room now" she said and smiled shyly at him.

Ziggy cocked his head to the side and then let her lead him to the door that would lead him into the Ranger Green room. "I can't" he whispered taking a step back.

The yellow ranger pushed his back lightly and shook his head "This is your room now" she said and then swung the door open in front of him revealing the beautiful green room to them.

Ziggy looked back at the yellow ranger and then stepped into the room, and sighed, there was no going back any more-he was in this to the end. The young man stared at his wrist where the morphor was strapped on innocently and then collapsed onto his bed and let out a tired sigh; he was screwed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 5

It was a week after Ziggy had become the Green ranger and he could honestly say that it was like nothing he'd ever done before. He would wake up in the mornings as early as ever, he'd cook, then go train a bit, then he'd sit down and eat with the team, then go see Doc K-who had turned out to be a girl!-and then Scott would pull him into training, then Dillon would have a go, Then Flynn would make him help him with the mechanics and finally Summer would take him to train...again.

At this time he was hiding from Flynn. He loved mechanics but whenever the blue ranger got him to work on Summer's bike he would freeze up and remember Cid, and he really didn't want those memories at least not today.

Sighing the Green ranger rested his forehead against the cool window, he had no idea what was wrong with him but maybe not sleeping well was a sort of condition for being a power ranger, he knew Dillon didn't sleep well but he had a valid excuse, and as far as Ziggy knew the other rangers had no problems sleeping whatsoever.

"Ziggy...Lad where re ya" Flynn's voice echoed through the garage.

The green ranger shivered and hugged his knees to his chest to try and get smaller, if he had the date correct today would have been Jak's birthday, and he really didn't feel like doing anything but remember his old friend.

Ziggy sighed and stood up; he knew the blue ranger would never give up, not until he had a valid reason as to why he wasn't working. But as he moved to leave his hiding spot, he was taken over by a pounding force inside his head.

"Gah!"

Ziggy clutched his head as his head pounded with the force of a jack hammer. His eyes stung like he was starring right into the sun and it felt as if someone was tearing his mind apart. This was new, and the green ranger knew that it wasn't a side effect from his bonding with the morphor. After a moment of the overwhelming pain shooting through him Ziggy decided to stay still until it faded away.

A few more moments passed and finally the pain began to fade away, or at least it faded until it was at the point where the young ranger could open his eyes and let out low moan and open his eyes. Thankfully it seemed that his eyes had turned back to normal as he could look straight out without his head feeling like it was about to explode.

"_Series Green. Report to the lab immediately" _Doc K's voice flowed out of his morphor

Ziggy winced as his hearing was still tender and then let out a ragged breath "Just...a sec doc" he said breathlessly.

A moment paused and the young ranger swore that the good doctor had actually given up for once and let him be, _"Ranger Green, why is your heart beat so high?" _

Ziggy groaned and rested his head on the floor; the damn woman had looked up his statistics, "Just have a little headache that's all" he said as he pushed himself to his feet.

"_Considering you are meant to be in the lab now, when you arrive I will check you over" _K said in that tone of her that brooked no argument from any of the rangers.

"Yeah okay doc" Ziggy said and then followed the wall out to the stairs.

K looked over Ziggy's scans and frowned as she once again found the anomaly in the boy's genes. There was no way that what she was looking at was real, the project had been scrapped years ago, not only that but none of the subjects had survived: not even the scientists did. The young woman sighed and waited for her green ranger to arrive patiently.

A few moments passed and a very pale and shaken Ziggy stumbled into her lab, after greeting her, the young ranger walked over to stand in front of his case and gazed deep into her own eyes. "What's up doc?" he asked casually.

K rolled her eyes and then turned back to her screen "Morph" she ordered stiffly.

Ziggy sighed and then weakly said there catchphrase and then allowed the series Green ranger suit to take over his body and sooth all his aches, "Okay what next" he asked still a little tired from his run in with what he was now calling his headache from hell.

The young genius stared at the stats in from of her and gulped and then rushed to Ziggy's side "What happened to you in the last ten minutes Series Green!" she demanded cruelly.

Ziggy took a step back and held his hands in fear "I just got a headache! I swear" he said

K glared at the suited up ranger and then stomped her foot "That was no headache, from the readings I just took from your bio-scan, your biological make-up went into overdrive almost tearing itself apart" she gritted out.

Ziggy was about to say something when the alarms sounded in the base making Ziggy sigh in relief "Gotta go Doc, we'll continue this later!" he shouted and then jumped into the fury where Dillon was waiting.

K bit her lip as her rangers filed out and then turned back to her screen and swallowed nervously "Statistic report on Bio-make-up or Ranger Green?" she asked her machine tentatively.

"_Bio-make-up influx of recessive lupine genes, dominant genes were being taken over by lupine genes. This in-flux caused Ranger green with physical stress as his body fought for control" _the computer relayed back to her.

The scientist nodded and then bit her lip secretly dreading her next question "How would you rate Ranger Green's condition?"

"_Extremely unstable: his lupine genes react to certain emotions, fear, anger and sorrow. It would be dangerous to send the green ranger out into battle" _

K's head shot up and then gave the garage entrance a pained glance "Oh just perfect" she whispered.

The battle was horrifying, there were grinders everywhere, Tenaya and Crush had accompanied them and were making it there mission to fight them. What was worse was the headache which had never truly disappeared had come back in full force and was now making it hard for Ziggy to focus.

"You seem distracted Green ranger" Tenaya commented as the green ranger missed the chance to strike her unprotected side.

Ziggy growled deeply in his chest making the android stop for a moment and stare at him. The young ranger stopped, he had never growled, he didn't even know how to, but suddenly he froze when he heard Summer's pained cry. Suddenly the headache worsened and Ziggy clutched his head and let out a roar when suddenly the pain stopped and it was as if something snapped inside him, the pain was gone and he was surrounding by a warm comfortable haze, then it was as if someone had put him into overdrive. All he could feel was a burning furious anger at everything around him.

Tenaya took a step back at the green ranger who was now hunched over and letting out a rumbling growl. Never before had she heard such an animalistic sound come from a human before, and it unnerved her. "Green Ranger?" she asked

Ziggy's head shot up and then his foot followed striking the girl in the face. Tenaya flew across the field and before anyone could blink the young boy was in the middle of a group of grinders who were all grabbing him trying to keep him down, Tenaya looked up from her spot on the ground and gave the green ranger a confused look, the boy wasn't fighting like he was before, the young fighter had always been swift and agile but now he was making it look like he was dancing across the ground and he was cutting down his opponents like they had personally offended him in a way, when the entire fight he had been busy with her. Snarling within his helmet Ziggy bunched his muscles and dropped into a crouch before swinging his leg out and sweeping them off their feet.

The other rangers watched as Ziggy slashed his way through a group of grinders and then Crush was in front of him, and Ziggy stood unmoving his shoulders vibrating and a deep sound coming from his throat.

"What are you" Crush said in interest.

Ziggy didn't answer and instead leapt up and kicked the attack-bot in the face and then fell to the ground in a hunched over crouch before shooting forward and impaled his hand through the bot's chest and ripped out a few wires. Crush sparked and then hit the young ranger away giving him a wild look.

"Tenaya were leaving, a new variable has arisen" he barked and then raced off.

The green ranger let out a snarl and was about to chase after him when Scott grabbed his shoulder to hold him back "Ziggy stop!" he shouted.

But it was as if he was in a haze and all he saw was another grinder, so with a speed none of them thought the younger man possessed Ziggy lashed out with the bit of metal in his hand and struck Scott's chest making him cry out in pain as he received the shallow cut. The scent of blood filled the air and when it reached Ziggy he snapped back into reality.

"Guys" he whispered and then everything came rushing back to him, and he turned his horrified gaze to Scott who was looking at him in shock "I'm so sorry" he whispered and then collapsed his body shutting down and his suit disappearing.

Dillon rushed forward and caught his friend and then stared at him in shock "What the hell happened?"

"_Rangers! Bring Ranger Green back to the lab immediately" _Doctor K voice snapped at them _"I fear that he has done some real damage to his body" _

Dillon for once didn't question the younger woman's orders and pulled Ziggy closer to him before rushing over to his car. He had no idea what had just happened to his friend but he knew that it hadn't been normal for the young man to snap like that and he wanted to know why it happened.

When Ziggy came to, the first thing he realized was that he was lying on the ground, and secondly he noticed he didn't have his morphor on. Opening his eyes Ziggy whimpered as the bright light stung his eyes. As he looked around he gulped when he notice he was in the solitary confinement room, and then the memories came back.

"Scott!" he shouted and slammed against the door, he needed to know if he hurt the red ranger.

"He's awaken sir" a stiff voice said from behind the door "He's calling for your son"

Ziggy gulped and stepped back as he felt footsteps coming towards him, he knew the man coming to see him was Coronel Truman, Scott's father and that scared him a little. A few seconds later the door flew opened and the stern military commander stepped forward a glare etched into his features.

"Sir I-"he began but was cut off when a normal black material jacket landed at his feet.

The colonel looked at him with disgust and then hurled him to his feet "Leave" he hissed "Go back to the Cartel's and your little dog fights"

Ziggy paled, he didn't know that the Coronel knew about them, he didn't want anyone to know about them. "Wait sir if I could explain" he said in a small voice.

"Explain!" the man snarled and threw him out of the room "Explain what! That you went berserk, that you attack your own team leader?" he spat.

Ziggy climbed to his feet and fingered his jacket in his hands "I have no idea what happened" he said almost coming to tears.

"I do" The colonel said not noticing the rangers who were slowly entering the room "You tried to be the good guy, the innocent one, but you're not!" he growled

The young man winced, he wasn't innocent not by a mile, but he was trying, he was trying real hard to try and get better but he didn't know what he was supposed to do "What do you mean" he whispered.

"You are a criminal Mr Grover" the Coronel said simply "Your place isn't with the rangers, it's with that Cartel's family of yours"

A loud gasp filled the room and Ziggy whipped his head around and froze when he saw all the rangers starring at him in shock. Scott was looking at him in disbelief, Flynn was shaking his head, Summer had a hand to her mouth, Doc looked shocked even horrified and Dillon looked like his whole world had been crushed.

"Guys" he started only to be stopped by the Coronel once again.

"Look at them Ziggy, really look at them" he said in a stern voice "Do they have the same amount of blood on their hands as you do?" The former green ranger swallowed and shook his head sadly. "Then leave and let them find someone more...innocent and trustworthy to be a part of their family. They can't trust a killer"

Ziggy gave his family one last look and then smiled sadly "I'm sorry" he said and then rushed out of the room and then out of the garage.

Dillon watched his friend go and then felt an anger he didn't know he could feel surge up at the sight of the Coronel looking very pleased with himself. In fact he was about to punch him in the face when a loud smack filled the room. Dillon blinked a couple of times to make sure what he was seeing was real but as sure as he was breathing what he saw was real: K had just slapped the Coronel right in the face.

"How dare you" she said plainly

Scott glared at his dad and shook his head in disgust "Dad seriously" he muttered.

The Coronel gathered all his wits and leveled his glare at the young genius "I was protecting your little team from a thieving, murdering mob member" he hissed "You should be thanking me"

Dillon leveled his own glare at the colonel and was about to say something when the doctor held up a hand to stop him "I want you to leave Coronel Truman" she said coolly "I have to debrief my rangers and now find a way to reset the irreversible DNA bond that the Series Green morphor has with Ranger Green" she said before turning around and swept out the door.

The Coronel stared at the group of fighters in front of him and then turned and walked out of the room with all the grace and poise that the military had drilled into him. The other rangers turned to one another and finally broke down at the loss of their green ranger.

Of course, it had to be scheduled to rain the day he'd been kicked out of the garage, Ziggy thought as the water beat down on him as he shuffled through the rain. The young man couldn't stop the stabbing pain that was aimed at his heart when he thought of the looks the other rangers had given him when they had finally found out his secret: they had been horrified.

"Ziggy?" a shocked voice said

The young man looked up in shock at the limo parked alongside him, but then he had never felt so relieved when he saw Fernso Bob staring up at him. The mafia boss took one look at his terrified and wet form and then smiled before he swung the limo door open.

"Come on. I'll take you home" he said kindly.

Ziggy felt the tears well up in his eyes and then climbed into the limo and buried his face in Fresno's lap. "I'm so sorry I was gone so long" he cried.

Fernso looked down at the crying boy and then ran a hand through his wet hair "Don't worry about that anymore. Your home now" he said and Ziggy couldn't help but agree, at least it was the place where he belonged.

Ziggy lifted his head up and then smiled at the man who had given him everything he could have needed and the man who had given him a family. "I'm home" he said nodding.

A whole week had passed since he had re-joined the Scorpions and Ziggy couldn't help but notice how it was as if he hadn't missed anything. The higher members still treated him like a brother and then lower members were in awe of him.

"Ziggy, we're holding a fight tomorrow" Fernso said at breakfast that morning.

The young man froze and then swallowed his mouthful and then nodded "Oh okay. Do we know who the challenger is?" he asked.

"The Sparta's" the elder man said snorting "They believe that we are weaken because you haven't been with us for a few months"

Ziggy chuckled weakly and then looked down at his food suddenly feeling sick. The idea of getting back in the cage scared him a little. "I can't wait" he whispered.

"Oh I was thinking that maybe afterward you could get your mark" Ziggy's head shot up and he gazed at his boss in shock. "What" Fernso asked in defence "You are old enough now" he said lacing his fingers together.

The former ranger nodded dumbly, he knew what getting the clans tattoo would mean. He knew that as soon as he got it he wouldn't be able to leave, he would never be able to go back to the rangers but as far as he knew they wouldn't want him back even if he begged.

Rion stared at the young man in front of him and couldn't stop the frown that flowed across his face, he loved Ziggy: he had cared for the young man ever since he had been seven years old. He knew when he was scared, when he was upset and when he was angry, and at this moment: the kid was terrified.

Melting back into the shadows, the mobster snuck out of the mansion and jumped on his silver and black bike. Then without any warning he sped out of the courtyard and towards the more mechanical part of the city, he had to see the rangers he had to explain why Ziggy had become a part of their family.

Doctor K glared at the screen in front of her with anger, apparently according to her readings, all her rangers including Dillon had become weaker since Ziggy had been forced to leave there team, and at the rate there skills were dropping it seemed that they would be killed in the next few days.

Just before she was about to call her team in she heard a loud engine on the outside speaker and when she turned to see the video and saw a handsome if slightly older man jumping of a bike and marching towards the garage doors.

"OPEN THE DOORS!" the man demanded "I'm here about Ziggy!"

Without even thinking about it K had the doors opening and she was walking out of her lab to meet with the man who had rudely barged his way through her defences. When he was visible Doc K had to admit that the man looked extremely educated, in his smart pants and his jacket he wasn't lacking in the looks department.

"How can I help you?" she asked in a kind tone.

The man who up until then had been looking around him turned his gaze on her making her stiffen slightly "Call you rangers down" he ordered.

The doctor nodded and then pressed the intercom button and cleared her throat "Ranger I need you down in the ranger room...someone is here with news of Ranger Green" she said in a shaky voice.

It took all of three minutes for the four rangers to arrive in the ranger room and look at the man sceptically who in turn was gazing at them with a small smile on his face. "Hello rangers" he said politely and then motioned to the table that was never used.

Realising that the motion was out of politeness that rangers and K sat down at the table leaving the chair at the head of the table for their mysterious guest, who when seated laced his fingers together and stared down at the table seriously.

"I guess you are all wondering who I am?" he started and then looked at each of the rangers who struggled to meet his intense gaze "Well my name is Rion Greensworth and up until Ziggy turned thirteen I was his guardian"

"What?" Flynn said in shock, they had all figured that Ziggy had a caretaker when he was in the Mafia but they had all thought that it had been his parents.

Rion nodded and ran a hand through his already messy hair "Yeah I guess I should start at the beginning yeah?" The rangers nodded and even Dr K seemed interested in what was about to happened and sat forward a little more in her chair.

"It all began" Rion said a wistful look spreading over his face "When Ziggy would have been seven years old" He said and then nodded as if agreeing with himself.

Dillon looked over to Dr K who was starring at Rion in shock, "Does that mean that Ziggy was with you for eleven years" he said as he quickly did the math.

Rion nodded and then sighed "Fernso and I found Ziggy when he was just seven years old pick pocketing some old lady" he said and then laughed "He had the lightest fingers we had ever seen" he said fondly.

"Why was he stealing at that age?" Summer said in shock.

The mobster looked at the girl as if she didn't know anything. "Ziggy was raised in an orphanage, the elder kids would teach the younger kids how to survive and when they got older they would teach the next generation. Ziggy was a natural at it" Rion said shrugging.

"Could you continue with the story?" Dr K snapped getting frustrated at the way Rion kept getting off topic.

Rion chuckled and then nodded "Sorry" he said smiling at Dr K and then cleared his throat once again "Anyway, we found him looking through this old lady's purse. Fernso Bob was interested in him so we took him back to our mansion"

Scott nodded and then looked around at his team making sure they were paying attention and then focused back on their visitor.

"The kid got into his heart I dunno, but when we got back Ziggy was welcomed into the family" Rion said shrugging and then let out a tired sigh "That's when the kid's life was turned upside down" he said in a sad voice.

"His Lupine genes?" Dr K whispered.

Rion nodded and then rubbed his mouth with his hand in a nervous gesture "I didn't know what Fernso was planning at first" he explained "You see as a kid Ziggy was very weak, he was more prone to being able to pass as dead then a healthy seven year old"

Flynn frowned and looked over to Dillon who shrugged, that defiantly wasn't the Ziggy they knew. "So once Zig turned about nine Fernso had enough and the three of us went to this lab not too far from here actually" Rion said and then ran his hands through his hair, "I don't know exactly what happened to Zig in there but when he came back he was totally changed"

"Changed how?" Summer asked

"He was faster, more agile" Rion said and then looked down at his hands "Every day until he was thirteen Ziggy was given this bright green and silver tonic, I had no idea what it was for until the day he turned thirteen. That's when Fernso announced his big plan for his youngest member"

"What?" Dillon asked

Rion looked at each of them before he rested on Dillon "Cage fighting" he said plainly.

Summer gasped and shook her head, Scott's fists tightened and Flynn looked ready to punch something. Dr K took charge and cleared her throat before motioning him to continue. Rion nodded and then gazed at his hands.

"It was around this time that I was removed as Ziggy's guardian. I don't really know what happened to him after that. But I do know that about four months ago he was sent on a mission with his mentor Jak and then disappeared why we found Jak's lifeless body and an entrance to the wastes" Rion said sadly.

Summer swallowed and nodded "Thank you" she said "But why did you tell us all this?" she asked

"Because after tomorrow night Ziggy will forever be tied to the cartel...and I can tell he doesn't want that" Rion said in a strong voice.

Dillon sat forward and gave the man a hard stare "What do you mean he'll be tied?" he asked icily.

Rion though wasn't intimidated "Because the day after his big fight tomorrow Fernso Bob is going to get him the family tattoo, and once you have that there is no going back" he said

Summer nodded and then slapped the table "We've got to save him then" she said her tone brooking no argument.

The others quickly nodded and Rion smiled happily "I thought you guys would say that"

"So you made a plan then?" Dr K asked interested.

Rion nodded and then turned to Summer "If I'm correct your full name is Summer Landsdown, the daughter of the Landsdown multimillionaires?" he asked her, the yellow ranger nodded and he gave her a serious gaze "Then this will fall heavily on your shoulders and your ability to act as rich and papered as you can be"

Dillon put a hand on her shoulder and then looked at Rion "I'm going to" he said.

Rion looked at him and then back to Summer and then nodded "It could work"

Fernso looked at the beautiful woman in front of him and felt his face stretch into a large smile, it had to be a Landsdown, with her golden hair and superior brown eyes it could be no one else.

"Ah miss Landsdown" he said warmly and then looked at the black garbed bodyguard behind her "And guard"

The man didn't react just stepped closer to his charge who just inspected her nails "I heard that you had a form of entertainment that I could enjoy" she said in a bored voice.

The mob boss nodded and then lead her into his house "Oh yes my champion is fighting tonight" he said happily "He has been absent for a while but he's returned to us" he added.

Summer hummed in acknowledgment and allowed the man to pull her into a professional looking arena with a steel cage in the middle of the room. "Rion!" Fernso called happily.

The man walked over to them and bowed to Summer who nodded her head in return and then turned back to Dillon "Be on your guard" she whispered.

Fernso lead them to a front table and sat her down before allowing Dillon to sit next to her "So Miss Landsdown, what lead you to my place. The last I heard you were preparing for your engagement" the mob boss said making conversation as drinks were placed down in front of him and the heiress.

"Yes well, I've become very bored and Dillon heard about this...event and told me I might enjoy it" Summer said giving the room an assessing look.

The Mob boss nodded and was about to say something when the lights dimmed and the cage was lit up "Here we go" he whispered clapping his hands.

Dillon looked over at Summer who nodded tensely the real show was about to begin. "Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to our humble abode" a young man said as the MC. Dillon nodded to Rion who had sat himself down next to him in recognition.

"We have a problem" the mobster hissed.

The black ranger turned and fired him with a stern glare "What!"

Rion nodded and slipped him a piece of paper which he immediately read:

_**Welcome back fight-Ziggy vs. battlers of fighter of Sparta family, round robin tournament**_

"What does this mean" Dillon asked lowly

The mobster swallowed as the first competitor entered the room in nothing but a pair of shorts and tapped hands. "It means that Ziggy will fight until he can't any more-it's a stamina fight" he said and then turned back to the arena while Dillon turned pale white.

"Now for the young fighter you've all been waiting for: the champion of the Scorpion Cartel: Ziggy QuickStirke!" Summer sat up a little straighter as a large snarl filled the room and a heavy drum beating song filled the air.

"Here's my boy" Fernso said happily.

The two rangers watched in horror as Ziggy wearing nothing but neon green and black fighting shorts and tapped knuckles entered the cage making the crowd cheer. Summer dutifully clapped along with the crowd and watched as the youngest ranger turned to his opponent in the ring. The MC explained the rules and then a bell dings.

The other fighter didn't even have time to react before Ziggy's foot connected with his jaw sending him into the air. The crowd cheered and Summer felt sick as Ziggy proceeded to beat the guy up. Of course the boy wasn't without injury himself but compared to the other guy Ziggy looked like he had gone a round with a feather.

After the competitor was out cold Summer swallowed and turned to Fernso and smiled "He's very good" she said to him.

Fernso nodded and was about to say something when a group of Grinders jumped into the ring followed by Tenaya seven who was smiling smugly.

"Ah so this is where you are little ranger" she said and eyes Ziggy who was starring at her defiantly.

Dillon surged up and jumped to his friend's side making him gas "Dillon!"

"Not now" the black ranger growled.

Tenaya Seven smirked and leapt forward onto Ziggy and engaged him in combat while the spectators fled apart from Summer who was fighting herself. Rion herded Fernso Bob out of the room and spared one last glance to Ziggy and smiled sadly "Goodbye kiddo" he whispered and then pushed his boss to safety.

"I must say Master was very interested by your little berserker moment last week" the attack bot said as she slammed Ziggy into the cage "So he told me to tell you, that's he's going to watch you" she said before slamming into the cage once more before letting go.

"Grinders enough!" she called "We're leaving"

Dillon watched silently as the attack bot and her drones disappeared before rushing to Ziggy's side "Zig you okay" but the kid was out cold.

"We should get him home" Summer said warmly as she ran a hand through the boys hair "It's about time he came home don't you think?"

Dillon nodded and picked the boy up before he walked out of the mansion to where his Fury was lying and laid him kindly on the backseat "When you wake up next Zig, your gonna be someplace safe" he promised.

When Ziggy opened his eyes he was shocked to see the ceiling on the garage starring back at him, taking a few calming breaths he slowly sat up and almost cried when he saw Dr K sleeping at her computers.

"Hey Doc" he called out making the girl's head shoot up.

When the young woman saw him awake she gave him a small smile and then pressed a button on her computer "Everyone, he's awake" she said with a hint of joy in her voice before she walked over to him.

Flynn was the first on inside the lab and had him in a bear hug before he could blink, the next person he saw was Summer who kissed him on the forehead like a mother would, next was Scott who clapped him on the shoulder and told him he was a part of a family right here. Last person who came to him was Dillon who smirked down at him and ruffled his hair. That was when Ziggy's tears fell: he was home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 6

_A scary man in a face mask with a bright white lab coat hovered of him: he was scared of this man: this man did bad things to him, this man hurt him. _

"_It'll be okay Ziggy, we're just gonna help you" the man said ruffling his hair ruffling making him whimper. _

_Suddenly his eyes were shoved wide open and held there by some clamps. "No I don't want to!" he cried out._

_The man in the lab coat clicked his tongue and shoved a mouth guard in his jaw and ssshed him "Nurse is everything ready?" he asked and patted Ziggy in a move that was supposed to comfort him when all it really did was make him whimper again "I think our patient is getting a little restless" _

_The woman who always accompanied the bad man nodded and handed him a scalpel "We are rearing and ready to go sir" she said brightly _

_Suddenly the scalpel was nearing his eye "NO!" he shouted but was muffled by the mouth guard, but luckily the man stopped all the same._

"_Ziggy, were going to help you" the man said sadly "You need better eye sight, and we're going to give it to you" he said and then straighten his shoulders "You thank me later"_

_Then it was too late, the scalpel was digging into his eyes and all he felt was pain and he let out an inhuman scream. _

"NO!" Ziggy screamed as he shot up in his bed.

A few minutes passed and the green ranger held and hand up to his eye, the one that had been stabbed during his dream and let out a shaky breath. He was getting extremely tired of these damn dreams. Nearly every night he would get a dream of the same place and the same man was doing something to him, but since he'd left the cartels a few weeks earlier and re-joined the rangers the dreams had been getting worse.

Sighing the young ranger pushed him off his bed and out of the room where the rested his head against his metal door before he let out a shuddering breath. Ziggy froze when he heard the soft footsteps coming towards him, considering the time of night Ziggy knew it could only be one person: Dillon.

"Hello Dillon" Ziggy whispered softly.

The hybrid sighed and placed a very soft hand on his friends shoulder and gave him a sad look "Ziggy you should be sleeping" he said in a strange voice.

The younger man spun around and gave him an annoyed look "You think I don't know that! You think I like having nightmares, nightmares about things I can't remember happening to me!" he said glaring at the black ranger.

"Ziggy don't lash out at me, I know how you feel" Dillon said holding up his hands "You feel lost and confused and that no one can help you, but Zig you have me" he said holding out his hand.

The green ranger stared at it for a moment before he glared at its owner darkly "You have no idea how I feel" he hissed taking a step away from his friend who caught his arm as he tried to run away.

Dillon looked into Ziggy's dark brown eyes and saw how tired they were and felt his heart break "Ziggy you don't have to be strong with me" he whispered trying to get through to his partner.

The Green ranger looked down and then glared at the floor, "No your wrong" he whispered and then looked up at Dillon with hard stare "I have to be strong with you most of all"

At the shock of that statement Dillon's grip of Ziggy's arm fell away and he stared at his friend as he bounded down the hall. What did he mean he had to be strong around him? The black ranger stared at his hands and then wandered into his room. Dillon looked over at his table where his only picture was and smiled sadly.

It was of him and Ziggy two days after he had become the green ranger, Summer had taken it for them saying that considering the two of them would be partners on the battle field from now on, that the two of them had to consolidate their friendship by having a picture.

Dillon ran a hand over the image and smiled, Summer had captured Ziggy mid laugh so the light was hitting him just right and his head was thrown back in laughter, Dillon himself was leaning forward and had a slight smirk of his face as he watched his friend, neither focused on the camera.

"Ziggy what's going on with you" Dillon whispered as he stared at the happy picture of his friend.

Up on the roof Ziggy stared out at the city, he had taken to this spot when he had first come to the garage: it was his sanctuary, a place where not even Dillon disturbed him. Ziggy looked down at the roof and frowned slightly, he knew it was cold out and he knew he should be shivering considering he had forgotten his jacket in his room but strangely he didn't feel it at all.

The green ranger looked at his hand and sighed, he missed the days when he simply took care of the others, the days when he would do nothing more than cook for the rangers, he didn't want to have the city's expectations on his shoulders anymore.

"Come little Children I'll take Thee away" Ziggy whispered the old children's lullaby which he could barely remember. In fact he couldn't really remember anything about his childhood, it was as if the time in between nine to thirteen was just gone and it didn't happen.

Humming the rest of the song Ziggy didn't notice Tenaya Seven who was watching him from a nearby roof with a smug grin her face. The green ranger was unique and she knew why and with the information she had gathered from watching him she was going to crush him mind and spirit until there was nothing left but the beast she's encountered in her last fight with the younger man.

"Oh the things I have planned for you little ranger" She whispered and then began to walk back towards the wastes all the while whistling Farmer in the dell.

When the sun finally rose, Ziggy already was half way through making breakfast. He had started early as he needed something to do, something to take his mind off everything. Unknowingly he was still humming the same tune he had been when he had secluded himself on the rooftop.

"Pretty Song there Lad" Flynn said from the door way.

Ziggy turned around and shot the blue ranger a bright smile, something that had shocked the rangers was how close Ziggy and the Scotsmen were. The two of them were close-not as close as the green ranger was to Dillon but close enough for it to matter.

"Yeah wish I could remember where I heard it though" Ziggy said and then sighed in frustration.

Flynn leant on the bench next to the younger man and gave him a sympathetic smile "Still got those memory problems then?" he asked as the green ranger began dishing out the fruit onto a plate.

Ziggy nodded and then turned back to the pancakes he was making "Yeah it's as if I don't have four years of my life, it's...frustrating" he said slowly.

The Blue ranger nodded and then laced his fingers together "Well that's why we have the future right lad? To make new memories" he said and then gave the younger ranger a bright happy grin.

Ziggy smiled brightly and then nodded unaware of the dark eyes observing them from the catwalk. Dillon stood silently above the two rangers in the kitchen who were laughing and joking and couldn't stop the wave of jealousy that flowed through him. Why did Ziggy turn to Flynn and not him? Wasn't he the younger man's best friend?

Sighing Dillon pulled himself up and then went to wake up the other rangers, knowing that Ziggy was almost finished breakfast he knew the red and yellow ranger would appreciate getting it fresh instead of cold or re-heated.

Once the two other rangers had stumbled down the stairs with Dillon coming up the rear with a smirk on his face Ziggy and Flynn had set the table and were waiting for them. The black ranger went to go sit by Scott thinking that Ziggy wanted to sit by the blue ranger only to have the younger man grab his wrist and pull him into the seat next to him.

'Sit next to me?" he asked shyly.

Dillon grinned and nodded, he may not be the one Ziggy confided his nightmares in, but he knew that at the end-or in this case start-of the day, it was him who Ziggy would fight next to. "Of course"

Ziggy beamed up to him and then threw himself into the conversation that was going on between Summer and Flynn about what was better a bike or car-he backed Summer up.

It was almost midday when the alarms went off, it turned out that Tenaya had decided that it was time to fight the rangers again and had bought a whole army of grinders with her. This of course spurred the rangers into action and Ziggy into an enthusiastic mood, he hadn't been able to fight the attack bot since she had found him in the cage and she had kicked his butt, he wanted pay-back.

"You're in a good mood considering what we're about to head into" Dillon commented as Ziggy threw himself into the Fury with a bright grin.

The green ranger nodded and then rubbed his hands together like a little kid on Christmas "I haven't had a real fight since I came back, I'm ready to go" he said and then gave Dillon a bright smile making the black ranger smile back at him.

As soon as the doors to the garage were open Dillon threw the car into action and they sped out of the building towards the area that Dr K had told them about. Just like his younger friend he was ready, and the best thing was he got to fight with his green ranger again. As they sped across the city Dillon smirked when he saw Scott coming up the rear, he knew that the toy car was no match for his beauty.

"Smug bastard aren't you" Ziggy said laughing the wind whipping his already messy hair into an unrecognizable form. Dillon didn't say anything and just smirked and gunned the engine once more sending them speeding towards the check point.

Once they arrived at ground zero, Ziggy flipped out of the car and the two of them faced off against Tenaya who smirked and waved at Ziggy who caught a glimpse of silver in her hand, it was a strange shape it looked like...a whistle.

When the other rangers arrived Scott nodded and the two of them and Ziggy grinned at Dillon and started to Morph "RPM Get in Gear" they called along with the others.

Tenaya smirked when Ziggy was fully garbed in his ranger suit and then cleared her throat "Green ranger, it's good to see you" She called out "But I'm afraid you won't be in fighting form for much longer"

The other rangers stared at Ziggy who himself acted puzzled, as far as he knew he felt find, what did the attack bot mean by that. Tenaya just smiled and with a quick flick of her hand the grinder launched forward to attack the rangers. Ziggy grinned to himself as he performed a mid air double kick taking out two grinders at once, his training sessions with Summer were paying off.

Tenaya lifted the long silver whistle to her lips and grinned once more before blowing. All the rangers heard was a slight piercing sound like a high pitch whistle, but when the noise reached Ziggy, it was as if the sound was amplified tenfold and with a cry he was down clutching his head in pain.

"_Rangers, that whistle is a dog whistle you need to get it off Tenaya before it kills Ziggy!" _Dr K snapped over the Com.

Scott jumped into action and began making his way towards Tenaya who was only paying attention to the downed Green ranger whose suit was flickering in and out of existence thanks to the physical strain his body was under thanks to the whistle.

"I'll be taking that" He snapped and snatched the long whistle out of the attack-bots hands making her growl and jump back.

Ziggy sighed in relief and collapsed, his suit finally disappearing from view. Dillon rushed over to his fallen friends side and glare at Tenaya who was smirking happily. "What did you do to him" He demanded.

"I merely played to his weakness's" She mocked and then her eyes zeroed in on something making her smirk larger, "and look like I did some damage too"

Dillon looked down at to the young man in his arms and his face turned pale when he saw the blood dribbling out of Ziggy's ears, the younger boy's breathing was shallow and his eyes flickered beneath the eye lids.

"Dillon get him back to Doc, we'll deal with things here" Summer said when she got a good look at Ziggy as well.

The black ranger nodded and hoisted the younger man into his arms and raced towards the fury. Once they got inside Dillon gunned the engine and he sped off from the battlefield towards the Garage. When he arrived Dr K was waiting by the entrance with a stern look on her face.

"To the lab, NOW!" she snapped, the black ranger needed no other prompting and headed straight to the ranger room where he laid the younger man on the metal table carefully. As Ziggy lay still and unmoving on the metal examination table Dillon couldn't stop himself when he brushed the stray hairs off the younger man's face and stared at his face.

"Series Black: I need you to leave" K said in a soft voice.

The older ranger stared at Ziggy for a moment and then nodded slowly, his eyes not leaving the younger form for even a second. Dr K watched as the black ranger left her lab and then turned her pain filled eyes to where Ziggy was laid on the table. "I can't do anything Series Green, it's all up to you" she whispered.

_Fernso had made the Chauffeur drive us for a long time, I wonder where we are. Rion looks just as surprised as me, didn't he know about this either? _

"_Now Ziggy, this place will make you all better" Fernso said addressing me "Do you understand?"_

_I nodded and smiled weakly "Yes sir"_

_Fernso grinned and stared out of the window while Rion stared at him in confusion, what was wrong, didn't he want me to get better:, Jak was sad when he found out I was leaving but Jak as always sad when we weren't together but Fernso assured him that I'd be back soon._

"_Sir not to long until we reach the checkpoint" The driver called back. _

_Fernso grinned and clapped his hands before motioning me over to him "Look Ziggy, this is Thronille, this'll be your home for the next month or so" he said pointing at the large facility outside the window. _

_Ziggy looked at the large white buildings and couldn't stop the feeling of dread that overcame him when he gazed at the building. That feeling only grew when he saw the man standing at the entrance with a pretty woman by his side, both beaming at the oncoming car. _

"_I think this is going to be good for you Ziggy" Fernso said in a happy voice and then the door was opened._

Ziggy shot up from the metal bench gasping for air, the last thing he remembered was facing Tenaya before she blew the whistle then it all went black and he was dreaming of him as a nine year old again.

"Series green...you've awoken!" Dr K said in surprise and then raced to his side checking his vitals "You've been sleeping for a very long time" she murmured sadly and then gazed up at him sadly "We were afraid you weren't going to wake up"

Ziggy gazed at the girl in front of him and smiled kindly "Nah not gonna happen, I got nine lives, I'm like the most annoying cat you've ever met"

Dr K rolled her eyes and then allowed the boy to sit up slowly "So what was going on in your head to make you sleep so long" she asked not looking up from her charts.

The green ranger looked at his hands in shock as he replayed his dream over and over "I remember something" he whispered in shock.

Dr K looked over at him in shock "What?" she asked

Ziggy nodded and then looked up at the girl who was steadily becoming his closest confident "In my dream I remember this Lab...Thronille" he said and looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

The young genius looked at her youngest ranger and then sighed; she knew what he was asking without even him having to say anything. "Ranger green even if I did know where this lab was, how would you get there"

"His bike"

At the sound of the Scottish accent both Ziggy and Dr K looked to the door way where Flynn was leaning against the door frame in a relaxed fashion. "His bike?" Dr K asked raising an eyebrow.

Ziggy grinned at Flynn who chucked him a pair of keys, "It's all ready?" he asked bouncing where he sat.

The blue ranger nodded and then turned to Dr K who was still staring at them with a raised eyebrow "Zig and I have been making him a Nitro bike, a mode of transportation" he said clapping his hands.

"Yeah it makes Summer's bike look weak" Ziggy said the excitement clear in his voice.

Dr k sighed and then looked at Ziggy and his hopeful face and then nodded "Fine, go get ready, I'll have your coordinates when you're done" she said and waved him away.

The young ranger jumped off the metal table and ran up to his room where he slammed the door closed. Flynn chuckled and turned back to Dr K who was staring at him with dark eyes. "You are aware that the program isn't finished?" she said in an icy voice.

The blue ranger nodded and then gave her a tired look "I know Lass, but we can't keep him from the truth" he said and rubbed his forehead "And I'm sure the kid would appreciate this"

K sighed and then nodded "I hope your right Series Blue" she said before turning back to her computers.

Up in his room Ziggy stared at the goggles in his hands and then grinned when he slipped it on happily, he was already. Taking one last look around the room the green ranger bounced back towards the lab where just as promised K was holding the address and coordinates to Thronille

"Now according to those directions you should take no longer than one day to get there and spend a few hours there and come back" Dr K said as he strapped the device to his wrist.

The young ranger nodded and then snuck out of the ranger room and into the main area where his bright green bike was sitting innocently. Grinning Ziggy mounted it and sighed at the familiar feel of leather. He loved this type of bike and the fact that Flynn had allowed him to remake one with him made losing Cid's bike less hard.

"Right" Ziggy said nodding and then turned the key of the bike and then smirked at the loud rev of the engine.

The other rangers noticed the noise and ran to investigate. But when they reached the entrance of the garage all they saw was Ziggy pulling a green helmet over his head. "Ziggy?" Dillon called.

But the green ranger just revved the engine again and then he shot of towards his secret exit to the wastes. The others turned to face Dr K and Flynn who were standing side by side with matching expressions on their faces.

"Explain!" Scott growled out.

The wastes were exactly as Ziggy remembered it: hot and sandy, but as he raced through the sand he couldn't help but smile as his memories flooded back of his time in the sandy death land.

The ride towards the lab was uneventful and Ziggy couldn't stop the nerves that caused him to freeze when the weathered sign: Thronille Genetic Facility was right in front of him. Ziggy took a deep breath and parked his bike before pulling his helmet off and laying it against the bike softly.

"Here we go" he whispered and then strode through the broken gates.

Taking a small look around Ziggy couldn't stop the frown that spread across his face as he felt the nagging sensation run through him that the place was very familiar. Shaking the thought away Ziggy walked through the labs until he reached what seemed to be the bedroom compartments.

Suddenly the numbers 645 flashed through his mind and without prompting the green ranger walked down the halls until he reached the room marked 645-Lupine experimentation. Taking a deep breath Ziggy pushed his way into the room and as he gazed around the wrecked room he gasped as a memory hit him at full force.

"_I can't believe he's still lucid" The bad man said as they carried him through the halls, "This is very good, I could mean big things" he said to the nurse who was starring into his eyes in awe._

'_I know to stay conscious and aware of his surroundings after the gene transfer is unheard of" she said and then took his hand. "Ziggy you are a special little boy" _

_I moan: I don't want to hear this, these two caused me pain, they did something to me and now I feel all weird. But I can't get myself to say anything, I feel heavy, but not tired. _

"_We'll put him in room 645" the man said as they stopped outside a heavily locked room, 'he needs the most surveillance, Fernso Bob has offered us a lot of funding if we managed to sure this little kid" _

_I'm confused why did they talk about Fernso, when he left me here he said that he didn't know the two mean people but the way they talk about him, it's as if they were good friends. Groaning at the pounding in my head I look around the room that they are lying me in and then felt my body tense even further-this wasn't a room, it was a cell._

"_Have a good rest Ziggy" the doctor said and the nurse leant over to kiss his forehead. _

Gripping his head Ziggy breathed harshly as the pounding in his head slowly faded along with the memory. Looking around the destroyed room once more Ziggy couldn't stop the shudder that ran up his back, this room had been his when he had stayed here, he was sure of that now.

Shakily exiting the room, Ziggy walked to the end of the hall and then froze as his body tried to turn right. Letting his feet lead him where they wanted the Green ranger soon found himself in a gym of sort, complete with Gym mats and what looked like targets for archery.

"What in the world" The young man breathed as he walked through the gym and stopped by one of the targets and fingered one of the holes that was caused by an arrow and could feel the pounding rise again but not to the intensity as before and ignored it.

Stopping at the gym mats Ziggy frowned, he knew he had some memory stored in this room, he just couldn't figure out which one. Bending down to run a hand over the broken mat Ziggy was enveloped by the pounding force once again as soon as his fingers touched the plastic covering.

_The woman is watching me silently, I don't like it. But I'll do what they want, bad things happen to me if I don't. Sighing I let go of the arrow and watch as it landed in the bulls eye. The woman cheers and claps happily and I feel relief fill me. I made the woman happy that meant I might not get in trouble today._

"_Ziggy that was amazing" she told me as she led me over to the gym mats where a scarred man was waiting for me. _

"_Who are you" I asked in a small voice. I don't like it when they introduce new people to me, they always hurt me. _

_The woman smiled at me and I have to stop the shudder that runs through me at sight of the evil grin "Ziggy this will be your trainer, his name is Kai" she said before she took a step back and nodded to the man._

_I yelp when suddenly the man grabbed me and flipped me mid air where I landed painfully on my back. This man wanted to hurt me. I pull myself to my feet and watch as the man rushed me again. Fighting back the fear that fill me, I flip backwards and land crouched on my hands and feet, I let out a little snarl because it feels normal making the man grin._

"_Come on ya little freak" he taunted._

_I growl low in my throat making me seem much older than I should, I don't know what's going on with me, I feel so angry, I want to hurt this man, I want to make him bleed and I don't have a reasonable excuse why. _

'_Fine then I'll come to you" he said and then ran forward and tried to kick me._

_I jump and then throw myself and then man and wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze. This man tried to hurt me, this man wanted me to attack, why wasn't he fighting back anymore?_

"_Ziggy let go" I freeze that was the bad man's voice. _

_I snatch my hands back and scramble of the man's chest and lock gazes with the bad man who was grinning at him smugly. 'Ziggy" he began and I stopped myself at wincing at the man's tone when he drawled my name "You did excellent" _

As the memory stopped Ziggy jumped from the mat and held a hand to his chest to try to stop his heart from beating so fast. Groaning at the physical stress his body was going through Ziggy threaded his hands into his hair and let out a shuddering breath, before he slowly walked out of the gym.

Looking out a broken window Ziggy noticed that the sun was descending in the sky, he knew he should be heading back soon but he knew in his heart that he wasn't done here; he had to find out what was making him have nightmares of this place every other night. Turning away from the window the green ranger walked aimless hoping his feet would once again take control of things.

When he reached the east wings Ziggy was once again taken over by the feeling of déjà vu and let him be lead into an operating room. Gasping at the pure strength of the memories resounding from this room Ziggy crumpled to the floor and gripped his head in his hands as his new memory hit him with the force of a Mack truck.

_The bad man cut into my eye with the scalpel making me cry out in pain, why he just couldn't go to sleep like the other kids who came into this room. But he came in here every other day and the man did something to him. _

"_He's blood flow is amazing, unless something goes wrong there is no way he'll have any problems after surgery' the nurse said as the bad man injected something into my pupil. _

_The man grinned and then pulled the scalpel from my eye and continued to inject something in my eye making him whimper. "You're doing amazing Ziggy. I've never had such a brilliant patient before" he said in a happy voice. _

_I let out a small whimper of relief when the man removed the needle as well, that was until I saw the scalpel descending to his other eye. 'NO!" he cried out._

_But it was too late; the bad man was already cutting into me. I don't know how it happened by sometime between me getting an injection and the bad man removing the scalpel I faded out of reality and just let the men do things to me. _

_It wasn't until they were bandaging my eyes that I snapped back into reality and realized that I had once again survived something that the other kids would haven't. All I could see was darkness, I knew that one day I would be able to see again but at the moment I was thankful, at least now I didn't have to look at the bad men. _

Ziggy whimpered and clutched his head tighter and buried his head in his knees as the pain began to overwhelm him. He made a mistake, he didn't want this, he wanted to go home, back to the garage, he wanted...Dillon.

"No I can't" he whispered "I'm a bad boy, I ran away, I left this place" he muttered gripping his hair tighter.

Shaking his head slightly Ziggy tried to block out everything that he learnt today, he had left he shouldn't have, he was safe here, the bad man liked him, had big plans for him. But he left and the bad man punished him by making him forget and now he was hurting others because of this.

"I don't want to hurt anyone else" he whispered and began to tug his hair by the strains when suddenly he felt a warm hand cover his.

"Don't do that Zig" a strong voice said kindly making him feel warm and protected.

Lifting the head up, Ziggy felt his heart stop when he saw Dillon kneeling in front of him gazing at him with protective eyes. "Dillon he said as his eyes teared up "You came for me"

The black ranger smiled and nodded "Always Zig" he said softly and then suddenly sound himself with an armful of crying Ziggy.

Hugging the crying ranger to him Dillon glared at the room around him that made his friend look so frail and broken, "It's okay Zig, I got you, I got you" he said and then buried his face in Ziggy's unruly chestnut locks.

It turned out that three hours after Ziggy had departed the garage Dillon had managed to get Flynn to squeal and then got the blue ranger to lead him to the lab. When they arrived Dillon had gotten Flynn to head back to the city on Ziggy's bike while he tracked down the wayward green ranger.

That was why Ziggy was now curled up in the passenger seat of the Fury hugging his knees to his chest. Starring out the window blankly. Dillon looked over at his friend and felt his heart break at the emptiness in his eyes. When he found out what Ziggy had run off to do he hadn't even hesitated, he had thrown Flynn into his car and drove like the north wind to follow the green ranger, but looking at him now he couldn't help but feel that he might have been too late.

"Ziggy what did you see" He whispered.

The younger ranger looked up at him and then shook his head sadly "I should have never gone digging" he whispered and then rested his cheek on his knees.

It was in this moments, diving towards the domed city and their home, that Dillon realized how much Ziggy truly meant to him, it was staring at his broken form that Dillon realized he loved him and this realization did to Dillon what an army of Venjix's creation couldn't: it terrified him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 7

The battle had been too easy.

That was all Ziggy could think as he jumped on his bike, the other rangers didn't seem to think so, but he was sure of it, Tenaya hadn't even put up much of a fight even when Ziggy and Dillon had tag teamed her. It was almost as if she hadn't really been there to fight at all.

Summer grinned at him as they started up their engines together, three weeks ago after he had gotten over his memory onslaught the yellow ranger had practically pounced on him. Ever since them the two of them had bonded over their love of bikes. The best thing was, if the two of them rode fast enough they could over take any of the cars they wanted.

"Race ya" Summer called back to the others.

Ziggy smirked at the acceptance of the challenge and then grinned at Dillon who narrowed his eyes at him. Their rivalry was a big one and even though Ziggy had beaten the black Fire-bird each time they raced the black ranger was still under the illusions that he could beat him.

"Meet you guys back at the garage" Ziggy called back and then pulled his helmet on.

Then as one the convoy of the three cars and two bikes shot forward, Ziggy couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled inside him as he and Summer easily took the lead. His bike was faster than the yellow rangers, it was just the way he and Flynn had made it, but another thing was he knew how to decrease the drag so that it was almost nonexistent. Taking a deep breath he leant against his machine completely and then like a green missile he shot through the back streets of the city.

When he saw his favorite route open it up to him Ziggy smirked and then turned a sharp right and drove up a ramp so that he was now driving along the lower roof tops. Summer that was driving a short ways behind him on the ground made a short movement with her hands making the Younger ranger Skid to a stop before turning and setting off at the left. He knew he was going to win, not even Summer was going to beat him.

Taking a deep breath Ziggy drove his bike right of the edge of the building but laughed when he caught the overhang that allowed him to drive smoothly to the ground and a good minute in front of the other bike rider. After that it only took a few seconds for him to arrive at the garage and like he predicated he was the first one to arrive-not that he was surprised.

"I win!" he said standing up before taking his helmet off and waited for Summer to ride up next him.

He didn't have to wait very long, only a few moments later the yellow and black bike skidded into the spot next to him, its rider beaming at him. "And once again: they lose" she said and the two of them high fived.

The first of the cars of arrive was Dillon and then Flynn and lastly Scott who was protesting that the black ranger had cut him off at one of the turns. The two bikers were already half way through cleaning their machines and shook their heads at the arguing that the three rangers were doing.

"Who's up for dinner!" Ziggy asked breaking up the argument.

The three rangers all nodded happily and let the yellow and green ranger lead them towards the kitchen where Ziggy had prepared them another meal.

Dr K watched as her rangers all laughed and joked around the dinner table and then turned her attention back to the finished program on her screen. Swallowing roughly she let out a shaky breath before pressing enter.

"_Ranger Green, gene activation over-ride program on line, status: not tested"_ the computer told her making her smile nervously.

"Yeah I know, I know" She whispered and then looked back out to her rangers and focused on Ziggy who was laughing loudly at something Flynn told him. "But I don't have a choice"

When the moon-albeit fake moon-finally reach zenith Ziggy's eyes once again shot open, it was like clockwork now. He would wake up around midnight, train with Dillon who was usually awake at the same time, and then work on his bike before he would start to prepare breakfast. But as he dressed himself Ziggy noticed that something didn't feel right.

Tilting his head to the side Ziggy began to pick up sounds of crashing and shattering, his eyes flying wide Ziggy raced out of his room and jumped off the cat walk and onto the ground below, much like had seen Dillon do months earlier.

Ziggy blinked at the scene that was in front of him, Dillon was destroying the lab, and Dr K was huddled under a table to hide from her black ranger. "Dr K" He called.

The young woman looked at him and her face flooded with relief "Get the others" she cried.

"No need" Scott said running up to Ziggy's side.

Flynn ended up on his other side and Summer was next to him. Ziggy nodded to each of his teammates and then as the team they were they rushed the black ranger attempting to stop him. But Dillon was half hybrid and they were just human and soon the three original rangers found themselves on the floor.

Ziggy though wasn't human, he was different: enhanced and soon found himself to be the only one still standing against his friend. "Dillon stop!" he growled as he dodged a punch that was aimed at his head.

The black ranger went on like he hadn't heard him and struck out at him again, Ziggy flipped catching Dillon on the jaw making the older fighter stumble back into the wall. Ziggy took a calming breath and then struck a fighting pose.

"Fine you want a fight?" he growled "Well then look at me: I'll give you one" Dillon pulled himself up off the floor and then charged the younger more agile fighter.

Flynn watched as Ziggy fought his best friend and then looked over at Dr K who had thrown herself at a computer and was typing in a range of commands he had become quite familiar with. "Dr K are Ye Crazy?" he demanded.

K looked back at her blue ranger and gave him a desperate look and then turned her gaze back to the fight where Ziggy was punched in the face before kicking Dillon in the knees.

"Ziggy!" Summer cried out as the green ranger was thrown into a nearby wall.

But just as he started forward, Scott caught her arm and held her back shaking his head "No Summer, this isn't our fight, we have to trust in Ziggy" he said not taking his eyes of the fight where Ziggy was barely holding on.

The worst happened when Dillon caught the younger man by the throat, the other rangers took a step forward and then winced when the black ranger slammed Ziggy into the ground making the ground crack where his head hit the cement. Ziggy let out a pain yell and then didn't get up.

Dr k groaned and then typed her final sequence into the computer "activate program" she called out.

"_Ranger Green, Lupine Gene override program activate" _

The other rangers all took a step back when Ziggy's eyes glowed green for a moment and then his whole body tense and he let out a low deep throaty growl. Flynn gulped and flattened himself against the wall as he watched Ziggy turn more animal then human before his very eyes.

Dillon looked down at the young ranger on the floor and bent down to inspect him closer, but once he was in striking distance Ziggy's fist shot out and caught him in the face making him fly back. The green ranger flipped himself into an animal crouch and snarled at the Venjix control black ranger who had picked himself up.

"K what did you do to Ziggy?" Scott asked as Ziggy head butted Dillon to get his to release him.

The young genius looked sick at what she had done and then turned her shaken gaze to her red ranger "I activated Ziggy's recessive genes and created a program which would make them the more dominate gene, hence his more animalistic fighting now" she whispered.

Summer looked back to where the two rangers where fighting and gasped when Ziggy kicked Dillon in the jaw sending him up in the air and then followed him up there and preformed a drop kick sending him crashing to the ground. Both fighters were bruised, bloody and looked exhausted but she knew neither one would give up just yet.

It wasn't until a few minutes later when Dillon and Ziggy were locked in a standstill that she spotted the black device on Dillon's neck. "Dr K, get ready to shut down Ziggy's program" she whispered.

The Dr nodded confused, and Summer then began to inch her way around the two fighters. Standing behind Dillon she took a deep breath and then jumped up and preformed a spinning kick and almost shouted in relief when she knocked the device off his neck. Almost immediately Dillon's eyes re-focused on Ziggy who had let go of him once he realized the fight had left his opponent.

"Wha-Ziggy" he whispered before he fell down unconscious.

The beastly ranger spun around to fight the other rangers when Dr k deactivated the program "De-activate!" she called quickly.

"_Ranger Green, Lupine Gene override program DE-activate" _

Ziggy's eyes flashed green for a second and then his eyes slid shut and he collapsed on the ground, his body worn out and broken with the physical strain he had just gone through. Dr K climbed to her feet and stared at her two rangers and sighed.

"Scott please restrain Dillon on the examination table. Flynn lock Ziggy in his room, I think when he wakes up he might be a little violent" she ordered softly and then turned to Summer who nodded.

'I'll help you clean up" she said in a kind voice before she wrapped an arm around the shorter woman's shoulders.

Two hours passed and Dillon had woken up screaming holy hell, wincing at the noise Flynn snuck away and knocked lightly on Ziggy's door just in case he was still asleep. But the soft reply of come in dashed his hopes of skipping the awkward talk he was about to have. Taking a deep breath the blue ranger opened the door and entered the room of the most unpredictable ranger.

"You did something to me" was the first thing Ziggy said when Flynn closed the door behind him, the younger ranger didn't even look away from the window he was perched next to, and somehow that made him just that little more threatening.

"Yeah" Flynn admitted and dragged the chair at Ziggy's issued desk over to the window and straddled it backwards. "It was a fail safe if you will"

Ziggy turned and looked at Flynn in confusion "Fail safe?" he asked

The blue ranger nodded and then ran a hand over his head "After the first time you went...Wolfy, Dr K asked me to get bio samples from you so that she could create a program that could help control you in a way"

"Control me?" Ziggy strangled out.

Flynn nodded and then looked straight at his younger friend "Yeah, Ziggy control you" he said seriously "You have no idea how dangerous you are when you go berserk. It's like you don't know who your friends are anymore"

The green ranger looked down guiltily and then began to fiddle with the blanket that had been draped over him. "I don't" he admitted "When I change everything kind of blurs together and I strike out at the thing in front of me, I know you're not going to hurt me but it's like I have no idea how to control myself"

"And that's why Dr K crated this program" Flynn said getting up to sit next to the younger man "The program is designed to activate your genes into taking over each other"

'And that's what you did tonight?" Ziggy asked softly

Flynn nodded and then looked up at the roof "The program was meant to do the opposite; we were supposed to bring out that side of you. It was meant to rein it in, but you were the only one who was able to keep Dillon busy, and even then you were getting hammered" he said thickly: his Scottish accent becoming more pronounced.

Ziggy grabbed his friends hand and smiled at him kindly "its okay: I'm okay you don't have to feel guilty or sad, you didn't make this problem and you're still trying to help me deal with it. I don't blame you" he said and then gave the startled blue ranger a hug.

Flynn hugged his younger friend back and couldn't help but realise that the green ranger may not be the most skilled and may not have the best path but, there was no doubt that Ziggy was the bravest of them.

It was midnight when Dillon and Ziggy finally saw each other for the first time since the big fight, the black ranger had been released four hours earlier but hadn't had the guts to go see his friend, and Ziggy hadn't left his room until he was sure the others were all asleep.

Ziggy was staring up at the fake stars and trying not to sigh at the longing that flowed through him, he wished he could see a star, a real star more than anything, but that wasn't going to happen they would be forever stuck in this dome they called a city.

"Not very creative are they?" Dillon said walking up behind him.

Ziggy smiled sadly and then shook his head "No, I still remember staring at the constellations when I was younger. It was my favourite thing to do" he admitted.

Dillon took the seat next to his friend and then stared up at the fake stars and nodded "I don't remember much but I do remember looking up at the stars and enjoying it" he said smiling.

The green ranger grinned and nudged him in the shoulder "I'm glad" he said cheerfully

"About what?" Dillon asked laughing "If you don't remember you and I had a death match earlier" he said grinning.

Ziggy nodded and then turned to look at his friend, a smile brightening up his already handsome features "Because even though we had that "Death match" you and I aren't acting all weird, I've had enough weird today. I actually had Summer crying in my arms earlier" Ziggy said before looking back up at the stars.

The black ranger smiled and slung his arm over Ziggy's shoulders "Nah, we're to cool for that, and anyway it's not like we had any control right" He said and then pushed Ziggy over.

"Hey!"

Dillon chuckled and held a hand out to his friend "Come on, let's go work off our excess energy shall we" he said clapping his hands together gleefully "I have this new move I want to try"

Ziggy's grin turned devious and he narrowed his eyes at his friend making the black ranger hesitate for a moment "Oh Dillon. The plans I have for you tonight" he said happily.

"plans? Ziggy don't mess with me what plans!" he said getting a little nervous as Ziggy walked off.

The green ranger waved off his words and continued walking "Come along, we have a long night ahead of us" he said in that happy voice which had Dillon shuddering.

If someone asked Ziggy what he thought of Gem and Gemma he would say he thought the two of them were awesome, and if someone asked the twins what they thought of Ziggy they would say he was like there other sibling.

When the twins and Ziggy had first met everyone had been nervous about how the bio-genetic ranger and the boom twins would work together, turns out they needn't have worried, because as soon as Gem had seen Ziggy trying out the new Bow that Dr K had created for him that made the target explode he had adopted the younger man almost immediately, and Gemma had taken one look at his cooking skills and had dragged him into her experiments straight away.

But the real turning point in Ziggy and the Twin's relationship was the time that Ziggy almost changed into his wolf form in front of them. When Dr K had heard the growling and stifled snarling she had rushed over to her computers and quickly reined Ziggy's more feral side in and as soon as he was safe Gem and Gemma had him wrapped in a tight bear hug.

"Gem, Gemma you can let go of me now" Ziggy said weakly.

The gold ranger pulled back and then brushed a stray hair out of his face and shook his head slowly "You must be-"

"In so much pain" Gemma finished for her brother running a soothing hand through his hair.

Ziggy gave the gold and silver rangers a look of confusion "What do you mean" he asked his voice weary. Dr K left the twins with her green ranger and let the three of them bond over whatever had happened to Ziggy.

Gem sat back and took Ziggy's hands into his own and stared at them sadly "When we were in Venjix's holdings-"

"He had these other kids there" Gemma said her hands falling from his hair to fiddle with each other nervously.

The gold ranger nodded sadly and then continued "They were from this lab called-"

"Thronille?" Ziggy breathed out in fear.

Gemma nodded and looked at Ziggy in fear "Venjix wanted a new kind of weapon-"

"Not a hybrid like Dillon" Gem cut in quickly, and Ziggy was thankful he was used to the twins joint way of speaking.

"But one with the genes of both animal and human" Gemma whispered, and Ziggy could say it was the saddest he'd ever heard the silver ranger sound.

Taking a deep breath Ziggy looked into Gem's eyes "What happened to them?" he asked in a shaky voice, almost afraid of the answer.

The gold ranger stared into his eyes sadly and shook his head "None of them survived. Their bodies rejected the new DNA"

"But then rumor came out that a young boy had successfully bonded with Lupine genes a few years earlier" Gemma said and then raised a hand to his face

Ziggy nodded slowly and Gem winced "Venjix had his attack-bots search for months for you" he whispered

"He killed all the other subjects, saying they were a lost cause" Gemma finished and by this point Ziggy was holding in all his tears trying not to cry at the thought of all the others dying because he had been safe with the cartels.

"The doctor in charge said-"

"That you'd be young and impressionable" Gemma finished for her brother.

Gem shook his head and pulled Ziggy into another hug which his sister readily joined "We are glad you escaped his clutches" they said as one, and Ziggy just let himself fall into the hug of the two older rangers.

After the revelation that Venjix had been after Ziggy since his first take over the boom twins had really taken Ziggy under their wing and when on the battle field always had his safety at heart, when off the battle field they were teaching him things he should know about his genetic composition and how to use it as a way to fight more naturally.

Dillon found that even though he wasn't spending half as much time with his best friend as before, he couldn't get jealous of the twins. Everyone in the garage had dubbed the boom twins as Ziggy's older siblings and even Dillon could see that in the new rangers, and he could see that they were actually helping the green ranger accept the fact that he wasn't like anybody else. But the biggest reason he never got jealous of the twins was because even though they took up nearly all of Ziggy's time during the day, when it came to night time and everyone else was asleep, he and the green ranger would laugh and joke together it was simple at night it became clear that Dillon was Ziggy's best friend.

"Hey Dillon" the black ranger looked up from the Fury's engine and saw a grinning Ziggy sitting on his bike, helmet in hand, "Can you tell Gem and Gemma I'm just going out?"

Dillon crossed his arms and smirked at his younger friend before quickly looking around the empty floor before nodding "Get outta here" he said before turning back to his car.

Ziggy grinned and pulled his helmet on before starting his engine right behind his friend making him flinch at the sound. Then with a gleeful laughed he gunned the engine and shot out of the garage, just a blur of green and black shooting through the city traffic.

The green ranger sighed happily and leant down so he could go as fast as he could make his bike go, and let out a happy whoop. It was in these times, when it was just him and his bike shooting through the city dodging traffic and riding through the back streets that he could forget that he was a genetically altered creation or that he was a ranger and the city depended on him and that at any point he could kill his friends. When he was riding through the city he could just be Ziggy and that was relieving.

When he reached the rocky outcrop of Conith he stopped his bike and entered his secret cave and stretched happily before taking his helmet off and shaking out his hair which spiked up thanks to the sweat.

"Just-my luck" a pained voice gasped out.

Ziggy spun around and gasped when he saw a heavily wounded Tenaya leaning against the wall of the cave one arm sparking and the other gripping her stomach where she was bleeding. "Oh my god" he whispered and rushed over to her side.

The attack bot looked at him in confusion as he removed her hand and pressed his jacket onto her wound, "You're helping me?" She croaked out.

The green ranger didn't say anything; he just continued his inspection of her and then winced when he was the amount of wounds that she had been dealt with. He had known she was a hybrid from the first time she had stalked him whistling that annoying and haunting song, but he hadn't seen Tenaya this human...ever.

"Stay here I'll get something to help you" he said and then rushed over to his bike and pulled the black bag strapped to the back off and pulled out his first aid kit.

When he returned to Tenaya's side she was staring at him in what looked like pure awe, "Why are you helping me" she whispered "I tried to kill you, and capture you so I could take you to my master"

Ziggy looked up from his kit and then gave her a kind smile, "I'm helping you because I know you won't hurt me" he said kindly.

Tenaya stared at the green ranger in shock as he pulled out a small knife and a bunch of bandages before he moved to her mechanical arm humming a small tune. Then her shock grew as he began a quick field repair on her arm better than what even Venjix's medics could do.

"How do you have any idea what you're doing?" she asked stopping his humming, even though it was calming her slightly.

Ziggy looked up at her and the smiled shyly "Well...sometimes Dillon gets really banged up, so Dr K taught me how to do quick repairs to his metal arm. But first aid is something I've just always known" he said before going back to his song.

The attack bot listened to the song and slowly memorized the tune before she shyly joined in, when he heard her voice tentatively join his own Ziggy grinned at her and then nodded happily before turning back to her arm to do the finishing touches.

At Ziggy's approval Tenaya smiled and continued to hum the song softly, it was a better song than the one she always whistled, it was calmer and more soothing, less haunting. "All done" Ziggy said leaning back after tying the final knot of her bandage.

The attack bot looked down at her arm and smiled faintly, "Now let's get you all stitched up shall we" Ziggy said as he carefully removed his now blood stained jacket from her midriff.

Tenaya winced as the stale air hit her still bleeding cut, "This is the worst of the injuries" she whispered.

The green ranger nodded and pulled out a small bottle of antiseptic and quickly squirted it into the cut making her flinch at the sudden burning that ran up her frame. "So after this, do you need me to drive you to the boarder or something?" Ziggy asked as he got a needle and some thread.

"No" Tenaya said in a shuttered breath as he slowly began to stitch the wound closed with a practiced ease "If I go back Venjix will kill me" she whispered.

Ziggy didn't pause once throughout his ministrations just started to hum again, and like magic the song calmed the tense girl down straight away. Tenaya couldn't be more thankful that it was Ziggy who had found her and not one of the other rangers, because she knew that none of them beside perhaps Dillon would take the time to let her explain like the green ranger was.

"Venjix ordered me to capture you" she said in a soft voice "and when I failed her got angry, he said his patience had run out and then got his generals to do this to me. I managed to get away and with this" she whispered holding out an USB in shaking fingers.

The green ranger bent down and bit off the last of the string as he finished with her wound before wiping his blood fingers on his jacket. Looking into her eyes and seeing the acceptance their Ziggy took the USB from her and slipped it into his jean pocket. "You were very brave" he said warmly as he put a slave on her stitches, then made her lean forward so he wrap her in bandages.

Tenaya smiled as he fussed over each of her wounds and when he was finished she had never felt so cared for before in her whole life, the fact that she had nowhere to go now made all of this seem bittersweet. Ziggy wiped his hands for a final time and then stood up from his crouch his back cracking and the held a hand out to the startled hybrid.

"Coming?" he asked in an amused voice.

Tenaya stared at Ziggy and then at his hand "What?" she said unintelligent.

The green ranger bent forward: still holding out his hand and smiled at her warm and inviting "come on, I'm gonna take you home" he said

The ex-attack bot held back the tears that were threatening to fall and hesitantly took Ziggy's hand and then smiled at the warmth it held.

Dillon laughed at something Flynn was saying when the sound of Ziggy's bike approached them, the rangers all waited for their green ranger to appear and when he did they were shocked to see the a female passenger behind him wearing his helmet.

"Ziggy, who's your friend" Flynn asked curiously.

The green ranger smiled at him and then helped the obviously injured girl off the bike, "ah Scott" he called out resting his hands on the sides of the helmet "Don't freak out"

The red ranger frowned at his youngest teammate and then he froze when Ziggy removed the helmet to reveal the mystery passenger. Standing slightly behind Ziggy almost for protection was Tenaya Seven looking more pitiful then any of them had ever seen her.

"Ziggy" he gritted out "Are you insane"

The green ranger lifted his chin defiantly and looked into Scott's eyes coolly "She is no threat to us anymore"

Dr K exited her Lab to find out why her rangers were making so much noise and when she saw Tenaya standing behind her green ranger one hand buried into his jacket almost as if to remind her that he was still there.

"Oh and how exactly do you figure this?" Scott demanded angrily

Ziggy took two steps forward and glared right at Scott and then pointed back at his guest 'Tell me Scott, does she look like a spy. Does she look like she wants to hurt us!" he said harshly "Because I just spent the last hour patching her back up from wounds Venjix inflicted on her!"

Flynn winced at the sight of Tenaya and then put a hand on Scott's shoulder "mate, look at her, she looks like a frightened kitten" he said in a soft voice.

Ziggy took several steps back, so that Tenaya could latch herself back onto him and smiled at her comfortingly. Dillon stepped in front of Ziggy protectively and crossed his arms "I trust Ziggy" he said in a dark voice.

"As do I" Dr K said coolly from the side.

The rangers all whipped around to look at their mentor who was standing at the entrance to her lab "Series Green bring Tenaya into the lab I will need to check over the first aid you gave her" The young woman said before turning to stride into the lab ahead of her ranger.

Scott stared after Ziggy and his patient in shock as they entered Dr K's lab "What just happened/" he asked Summer who was smirking at him.

"I think we just took in a stray"


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met an old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 8

Weeks passed and Tenaya had come into her own at the base, she was K assistant and not only that but had taken Ziggy's other place as secondary best friend. One of the best things Tenaya brought to the team was the Cure for Dillon's problem with the Venjix virus that had been in the contents of the USB she had gifted Ziggy when he had found her. Scott had gotten over her presence after the first few days and then ex-attack bot had finally been completely accepted into the group. Ziggy and Tenaya were very close and he was her confident. Even Dillon was shocked to find out just how close the two of them were when the ex-attack bot rushed to Ziggy in the middle of the night after a traumatizing nightmare. Gem and Gemma had accepted the attack bot mainly because Ziggy did, they had no problems about her and often when Ziggy was out or off doing his own thing the Attack bot would be found in the company of the boom twins.

Ziggy looked out at the city with a faint smile on his face and then down at his hands which were shaking slightly. He was beginning to lose control, when he had told Dr K about his symptoms she had told him that the wolf genes were tired of being the recessive gene and were fighting to get in control while his human genes defended themselves wracking pain throughout his body. Luckily, He Gem, Gemma, Dr K and Tenaya had created a plan to keep the others safe from him and it would be initiated at midnight that night.

"Zig what you doing out here so early?"

The green ranger turned from his spot at the edge of the roof and smiled when he saw Dillon standing behind looking at him in curiosity. In the hybrids hands was the chain with his keys on it and his pocket watch. Swallowing nervously Ziggy motioned Dillon over to him; hopefully he would be able to do something for the man who bought him such happiness before he lost control.

Once Dillon was seated next to him he took the watch and keys out of his hands and looked at them carefully. The black ranger sighed and shook his head "I still can't get it to work, I'm sure if I do I'll be able to find out who my sister was" he said in an irritated voice.

Ziggy hummed and then somehow fitted the two keys together much the Dillon's surprise and then put the key in the watch and turned making a very familiar tune play. "Farmer in the Dell" Ziggy whispered and then looked at Dillon who was looking at the watch in shock.

There was only one person both rangers knew, who not only loved this one song but also had no memory of her time as a human. "Tenaya" Dillon whispered and then looked at Ziggy who was giving him a forgiving smile.

"Go, I'll be here when you get back" he said calmly.

The black ranger wasted no more time and surged to his feet and raced back into the garage leaving Ziggy with the pocket watch. The green ranger smiled bitter sweetly and then began to hum along with the song. He knew he wouldn't be able to do much, but knowing that he helped his best friend find his sister like he promised was enough for the young man.

The young hero smiled at the thought of Tenaya and Dillon as kids, he could just see Dillon bossing round a much younger Tenaya who just pushed him over. Laughing at the image in his head Ziggy just hugged himself tight, he knew he would never be able to see his friend that happy, he would never hug him again, never feel him ruffle his hair, never feel those lips on his-wait.

Ziggy's eyes went wide as that thought ran through his head; he didn't like Dillon like that did he? He didn't love the black ranger did he? Taking a deep breath Ziggy thought back to all the times he'd shared with his friend.

Who was it who listened to him ramble on the way to Conith?: Dillon. Who was the one who took care of him in jail and eventually got him out?: Dillon. Who defended him when he became the green ranger?: Dillon.

Suddenly everything hit Ziggy, it was Dillon who had his back in a fight, it was Dillon who listened to him at night when it was just the two of them, it was Dillon who took care of him when he had nightmares, it was Dillon who came after him when he was trapped in Thronille, it was Dillon who he was most afraid to leave.

Laughing hysterically Ziggy ran a hand through his messy lock and then started to sob, he loved Dillon: he couldn't deny it. He loved the black ranger more than anyone, he loved Dillon more than he did Jak and he had been pretty in love with his mentor. Ziggy buried his head in his knees and shook his head: He wouldn't tell Dillon, he couldn't, if the black ranger returned his feelings he would only be hurting him.

Pulling his head up Ziggy stared up at the fake sky and grinned tearfully, he would smile and laugh, he would hide behind these things for the others because that was the kind of guy he was. Pulling himself to his feet Ziggy stretched in the fake sun and when he heard Dillon's excited feet rushing towards him he wiped away the tears on his face and turned to the doorway and plastered an excited grin on his face.

The whole Garage was abuzz with the news that Tenaya was Dillon's lost sister and the two of them were acting like the siblings they were now. The attack bot had tackled Ziggy in a hug when he had come down from the roof thanking him for bringing her here and for finding out that Dillon was her brother.

To celebrate their reunion Ziggy had locked himself in the kitchen for the whole day threatening anyone who tried to enter and cooked them a brilliant dinner. It was around midday when Dillon braved entering the kitchen to speak to his younger friend. Telling Tenaya about the pocket watch earlier the black ranger had decided to tell Ziggy about his feeling for him. He couldn't hold it in anymore, and he was sure the younger ranger had similar feelings for him.

"Zig" he whispered as he inched his way into the kitchen.

The younger man didn't hear him as he had his music player in his ear as he slowly chopped what looked like onions into fine cubes. The black ranger stood back and watched his younger friend and couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when the younger man began to sing along to whatever song was blasting in his ears.

"Cause it's a beautiful night, were looking for something dumb to do. I think I want to marry you" he sung dancing around the kitchen.

Dillon smiled at the song and then stepped up behind his friend and began to dance with him. The green ranger jumped a little but then relaxed and smiled at his friend and continued his little dance while still singing his song.

"Hey baby I think I wanna marry you. Is it the look in your eyes or this dancing juice" Dillon laughed and spun him around "Who cares baby I think I wanna marry you!" Ziggy finished.

The black ranger smiled at his friend and let him go as Ziggy took his ear buds out of his ears "Hiya there Zig" he teased "So you wanna marry me huh?"

The green ranger blushed and pushed Dillon before turning back to his ingredients "I like that song okay. It's a happy song" he defended.

The older man held up his hands and then leant against the bench as Ziggy continued to cook. Dillon wasn't sure how long he stood there but it was obviously enough time because Ziggy once again had his ear bubs in and was humming along, seemingly forgetting he was right next to him.

"I think I love you, so what am I so afraid of" Ziggy sang along to the female singer grinning at the lyrics.

Dillon stilled at the words and just watched Ziggy who was now preparing some sort of sauce at the stove was totally oblivious to him and was belting out the song "I'm afraid I'm not sure of: a love there is no cure for!"

The black ranger swallowed and followed Ziggy with his eyes as he danced around the kitchen looking more graceful then he had ever. As it turned out, it seemed that Ziggy's singing had drawn the rest of the rangers to investigate and now the green ranger had an audience who were all clapping along with his singing. When Ziggy caught sight of them he almost faltered but Gem and Gemma were cheering so Dillon watched as Ziggy put aside his own insecurities and continued with his performance.

The rangers all cheered when he bowed and he took his music player out of his ears and glared at them halfheartedly "Get out" he ordered. As they all left his kitchen Ziggy caught Dillon's gaze and felt paralyzed by it, then it hit him that Dillon had never left when he was singing that song.

"Dillon" he said weakly and waved grinning embarrassed.

The black ranger stepped forward until he could feel the heat coming off Ziggy's body and looked down into his eyes "That was a nice song Ziggy" he said, his voice heavy and sultry.

Ziggy began to breath heavily and looked into Dillon's eyes which were unbelievably dark and swallowed, and he didn't miss how Dillon's eyes followed the movement. "Ah when I said get out, that included you Dill" he said in a strained voice.

The black ranger cocked his head to the side and then nodded slowly never letting go of his gaze for a second. "Okay, but I want to do one thing first" he said and then stepped forward.

Ziggy took a step back and this cat and mouse chase continued until Ziggy was backed against the kitchen table with Dillon bracing an arm on the bench on either side of him. The black ranger looked at Ziggy's eyes and smirked when he saw that the brown was almost gone, swallowed by the pupil which had dilated with lust.

"Don't worry Zig, you like he" He whispered and then crashed his lips down onto Ziggy's.

Ziggy moaned at the feeling of fire spreading through his body and then kissed the black ranger back and wrapped his arms around the older man's shoulders dragging his nails down his back and pulled him close, he wasn't a virgin by no means, not with Fernso practically giving him a range of young cute boys to lose his first time to when he was fourteen, So he knew exactly what to do and wasn't shy about anything, but kissing Dillon was completely different.

Groaning as Ziggy pulled him close Dillon tangled one hand into his unruly locks his other wrapping around his waist and kicked his legs open so he could step closer. Ziggy whimpered in need when he licked his lower lip and opened his mouth willingly and Dillon wasn't one to wait so he took the invitation and plunged his tongue into Ziggy's mouth.

All thoughts of dinner fled Ziggy's mind when their hips came into contact and white hot pleasure flared through his body. Groaning at the contact the younger man arched up into Dillon breaking the kiss but revealing his neck to the black ranger who immediately started peppering kisses and bites onto his neck.

"You want me don't you Zig?" Dillon growled after he had sucked on his neck hard enough to leave a mark.

Ziggy groaned and pressed himself into Dillon a little more almost as if he was trying to meld their bodies together. Dillon chuckled in his ear and then bit his ear lobe softly "Well I want you too. Have for months now"

This made Ziggy whimper and claw at Dillon's back a little more forcefully, the black ranger began to suck on his neck a little and suddenly it occurred to Ziggy that he was by far the more experienced one so with a savage smile he snaked his hand under Dillon's shirt and stroked his abs making his freeze and then shudder. Then with the strength of his inner wolf Ziggy pushed the black ranger away and gave him a sexy wink.

"I want you to think of this for the rest of the day" he whispered running a finger along his kiss bruised lips making Dillon's breath hitch "I want you to be thinking of his moment when were all sitting at the dinner table" he said and then shoved him out of the kitchen startling the other rangers when Dillon fell to the floor in front of them.

The green ranger smirked and then calmed himself down before turning towards the meal he had to finish, more than that he wanted to get back to torturing a certain black ranger.

Dinner for Dillon was a tense affair, every time he looked at Ziggy all he would remember was the way he felt pressed up against him or how it felt to kiss him. It didn't help him at all that said ranger didn't seem to be affected by their earlier moment at all. He still laughed and joked with Tenaya and Flynn, still debated with Scott and discussed their bikes with Summer like nothing had happened. In fact if it wasn't for the sexy grins and winks the younger man sent him across the table Dillon would believe that it hadn't happened, that and the raging hard on he hadn't been able to get rid of since then.

"Ziggy you can have the night off. Scott and I'll do the dishes" Summer said and stepped on the red rangers foot hard when he started to protest.

The green ranger nodded and grinned happily, "Thanks I'll tell you what. I thought cooking for just us six was hard, but now I'm cooking for nine now that's hard" he said and shot Dillon a glance when he drawled out the last word making him still for a moment.

Summer nodded in sympathy and then stretched happily "Well I can't say that the foods gotten worse because that was amazing" she said sighing.

The others around the table all confirmed this and Ziggy settled back in his chair and just watched his family happily. He had missed a lot of the party earlier thanks to his cooking but just watching them now at the dinner table was enough for the green ranger at that time.

Once plates were cleared Ziggy told the others he would be retiring to his room for the night and smirked to himself when he felt Dillon's gaze following him. When he reached the rooms he walked straight passed his and walked into Dillon's instead and waited for the black ranger to follow him up. Thankfully Ziggy didn't have to wait long; a minute after he had settled himself on the bed Dillon slammed his door open and had him in a tight embrace.

"You little tease" he growled out in his ear making his smirk again. "You had me hard all day, shooting me those looks over dinner, did you know how much I wanted just to jump you!"

Ziggy pulled back a fraction until their lips were almost touching and smirked "Well what's stopping you now?" he whispered.

Dillon growled and smashed him lips against Ziggy's passionately and grinded their hips together making the younger gasp at the contact. The black ranger plunged his tongue into Ziggy's mouth and continued where they left off in the kitchen except this time he wasn't going to let the younger man escape.

Ziggy whimpered and slide Dillon's jacket from his shoulders so he could run his hands over the strong arms and shoulders. Once the leather hit the floor Dillon quickly shed Ziggy's from him and then back them up until they collapsed on the bed kicking their shoes off as they went. Ziggy ran his hands down Dillon's back and growled low in his throat. The black ranger seemed to like this because once he heard this he pushed Ziggy deeper into the mattress and then pulled his shirt over his head revealing his tone body to the younger man.

"I want to hear you growl and scream my name all night" Dillon said in his ear and he slipped his hand under Ziggy's shirt.

This man the green ranger whimper and then scratched down Dillon's back hard enough he knew that it would leave marks. Dillon seemed to enjoy this to as he ripped the green shirt from his body and then began sucking marks all the way down his chest. "Dillon" Ziggy whispered making the older man groan.

"Ziggy the things you do to me" Dillon groaned before attacking his lips once again.

The green ranger didn't know when his hands moved but when he faded back into reality his hands were resting just above Dillon's waistband. Kissing Dillon to distract him Ziggy skillfully unzipped his fly and pushed his hand into the older man's boxers. As soon as he man contact with Dillon's length the man gasped and threw his head back in passion.

"Ziggy!" he cried.

The younger man smiled and began kissing and biting his chest while moving his hand at a reasonable pace working his lover into a frenzy. But when he was sure Dillon was about to come undone The older man growled and then kissed his hard making him falter in his movements.

"Not until I'm inside you" Dillon growled and man quick work of his own jeans.

But when he was stripped of them Dillon swallowed roughly when he realized that Ziggy had gone commando. "Ziggy?" he breathed as he prowled up his body "were you expecting this?"

The younger man shook his head and gaze at Dillon cheekily "Too hard to wear anything when I'm wearing skinny jeans" he said before kissing him "and just think about this, everytime I'm wearing these pants, I got nothing on under them"

Dillon froze at the thought and Ziggy then slide down and shed Dillon of both his jeans and his boxers before sliding back up. The black ranger lower himself down so that he was lying right on top of Ziggy and then brushed his hair from his face smiling down at him lovingly.

The younger man felt his breath catch and before Dillon could say anything Ziggy kissed him sweetly, the older man slowly trailed one of his hands down until it was caressing his crack lovingly then slipped one finger into Ziggy's tight entrance making his lover groan. Dillon began to pump into the young man until he had Ziggy moaning and withering under him, and only then did the slide another finger into him and begin scissoring him open.

When he added a third finger and touched something inside the younger ranger Ziggy cried out Dillon's name so beautifully that Dillon swore he would come undone just from that. But he held on, and once he was sure his lover was properly prepared he slowly placed himself at Ziggy's entrance why the younger man wrapped his legs around his waist giving him more room for an easier entry. "Ziggy" Dillon said and then slid inside.

The green ranger sat up so he was on Dillon's lap and growled low in his throat "Dillon" The black ranger groaned and began to thrust up into the man in his lap making him impale him deeper and deeper on each stroke and soon Dillon had Ziggy doing exactly what he wanted: growling and screaming his name.

Sometime during the haze of passion they had ended up lying back against the bed and Ziggy could hear the bed creaking and even banging against the wall slightly. But all he could do was hold onto his lover and sometimes even scratch down his back leaving more welts.

"Ziggy" Dillon panted into his neck "I love you"

The green ranger gasped at the admission and kissed Dillon desperately "I love you too" he sobbed and then Dillon grin turned feral and he slammed their mouths together in a messy and downright dirty kiss.

Ziggy sucked on Dillon's tongue when he felt his body tense and then white spots were appearing in front of his vision "Dillon!" he screamed

The black ranger groaned and buried his head into Ziggy's neck as he spilled himself into Ziggy. The two rangers gasped for air as the intensity of their orgasms passed. Dillon slid out of Ziggy making both of them groan at the left over feeling and then pulled the green ranger close to kiss chest kissing his hair.

"I love you Ziggy" he whispered as he fell asleep.

Ziggy took one last look at the sleeping ranger on the bed and then placed the letter on the table tenderly before he straightened his jacket and left the room with a silence that relied solely on his wolven genes.

"You ready?" The green ranger looked over to his right and smirked when he saw Tenaya standing off to the side smiling at him sadly.

Ziggy held a finger to his lips and then closed the door neatly behind him before nodding "Yeah, let's do this" he whispered and let the girl lead him down past the ranger rooms and to a heavily locked door, a lot like the one at Thronille.

Dr k was standing off to one side while Gem and Gemma were standing on the other. Ziggy smiled sadly at the boom twins and hugged them tightly before he moved over to Dr K who gave him a bitter sweet smile.

"You are very brave….Ziggy" she said after a moment's hesitation.

The green ranger smiled at her and then shrugged off his issued ranger jacket and handed it to his mentor before looking at the device on his wrist "did you know I've always felt like this was mine" he admitted not looking up from his morphor "Even when I wasn't the green ranger. But I guess I was wrong" he whispered and then quickly UN-strapped the device and handed it to Dr K who clutched it to her protectively.

Ziggy took one last look around the garage and then sighed "Better not put it off any longer" he whispered and then motioned for the others to open the door for him.

Gem grimaced but pulled open the heavy steel door to reveal a dark forest green room beyond. Ziggy smiled sadly and then walked into the room before turning to face the others, "see ya when I see ya he said giving them a proper salute for the first time in his life and then the heavy steel door slammed shut and the locking mechanisms slid into place.

"_Welcome Ziggy Grover. This is day #1 of your confinement" _

When Dillon woke he was surprised to find that Ziggy was nowhere in sight and all his clothes were gone. The black ranger shrugged, he had thought his friend to be the snuggling type but considering he wasn't cured he had probably gotten restless and gotten up to do his nightly ritual when the clock struck midnight.

"Ziggy come out now!" Scott bellowed from down stairs.

The black ranger frowned and quickly pulled on some clothes before he rushed into the ranger room where Scott and Flynn were standing in front of what looked like a steel door while Gem held a crying Gemma off to the side and Tenaya and Dr K looked on sadly.

"Ranger red, Ziggy won't be coming out" Dr K said and held out his ranger items to the leader.

Scott looked at Ziggy's jacket and then at his morphor and then over at Dillon who was watching the whole thing horrified "Did you know about this?" he asked harshly.

"Series Operator Black knew nothing of this. The only ones who did were Tenaya, Gem and Gemma" Dr K said in a firm voice.

Dillon swallowed roughly and then turned to his mentor "Is Ziggy behind there" he asked in a shaky voice, pointing at the large door in front of them.

The young woman nodded slowly "Ziggy came to me a few weeks ago complaining of headaches and uncontrollable shakes. After I ran some tests I found that the reason for this was because of my program" she admitted sadly.

Tenaya stepped forward so she could placate her brother if he lashed out "Dr K and I found out that because we played god with Ziggy's genes and used this program to activate and de-active the placing of his genes, his lupine genes have decided to take over his body, only his human genes won't go out without a fight. Ziggy went to Gem and Gemma and told them to build him a safe room so that when he snapped he wouldn't hurt any of us"

Dillon felt his lungs stop and then looked back at the door before he approached it slowly. Gulping he rested his hand on it and then his forehead. "I'll find a way to get you out Zig" he said in a shuddering voice.

When he turned back around Scott was holding out Ziggy's jacket to him "I think, out of everyone he would have wanted you to have this" he said softly.

Dillon nodded and took the jacket in shaking hands stroking it tenderly "I think…. I think I'm gonna go back to my room now" he whispered and then left without waiting for a response.

When he reached his room he held Ziggy's jacket to his face and breathed in deeply letting the younger rangers scent wash over him, it wasn't until he bought the jacket down that he spotted the envelope on his desk, with his name written on it with Ziggy's printing style of writing. As he picked up the letter Dillon held it to his chest tightly and then sat down on his bed before he opened it.

"_To my dearest Dillon"_

"_If you are ready this you are probably feeling lost and confused as to why I have locked myself away from you, from us. But I need you to know something: I did not lock myself away to hide from what we did last night" _

"_I meant it when I said I love you, last night. I know I'm a little late considering you basically admitted that you'd been in love with me for some time now, and I just figured my feelings out earlier today. That doesn't make what I'm feeling any less real though; I've never once loved a person as I do you: even as I'm writing this I don't know how I'm supposed to leave after wards"_

"_I guess I should explain why I left you?"_

"_I've locked myself away because I didn't want to hurt anyone, especially you. The truth is, that everytime I've said that I was fine or smile brightly: I've been lying. Admitting that feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest, but it's true, I haven't been fine and I haven't felt like smiling truly until you kissed me in the kitchen earlier"_

"_For the last few weeks I've felt the wolf inside of me gaining more and more control over me and my psyche. I don't know if it wants blood or merely to be in control of me, but I do know that when the wolf is in control I am dangerous and I can't take the risk that I could hurt-god forbid kill-somebody, my hands are bloody enough"_

"_Tenaya and Dr K said that they would try to find a way to either fuse me completely with my wolf or try to subdue it. I'm not holding my breath for that though, and I don't want you to either. Remember you are the black ranger: you have a war to fight, just as I do"_

"_I want you to promise me something okay Dillon?"_

"_I want you to promise me that you won't stop fighting, and in turn I'll promise you neither will I. Maybe someday I'll leave that room and we can truly be together but I fear that day might be a fair ways off"_

_I'm dreaming of the day when I can once again be held in your protective embrace"_

"_With my Heart and soul"_

_ "Ziggy"_

Dillon didn't realize he was crying until Ziggy's final written words began to smudge because of the moisture of his tears. Sobbing quietly Dillon held both Ziggy's jacket and his letter to his chest and curled in on himself hoping that he would wake up and it would all be a dream. _  
><em>


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met an old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 9

Three weeks passed.

Three weeks in which there was no Ziggy to lighten the mood, three weeks where there would be no one in the kitchen cooking merely because he wanted to be. Three weeks for Dillon to go from slightly anti-social to downright social pariah. The other rangers tried to be happy but every time they went into the ranger room and caught sight of the steel door which kept their green ranger away from them the mood when for a fragile happy to a shattered sorrow.

It only took three weeks for Ziggy's childish influence to leave the garage completely, and for Scott to demand that they storm Venjix's castle. Luckily for the red ranger he was immediately back up by Dillon who stared down both Dr K and his sister who had started to protest against this.

"We will finish this war" Dillon growled out and then waved at each ranger who looked pale and tired "have you not seen how this war is affecting us" he demanded "We are tired and lost so much" he whispered and then looked at the door that was the only barrier between him and Ziggy.

Flynn nodded and stepped up next to the black ranger "I agree with these two, I want this to end" he said in a firm voice.

The yellow ranger steeled her eyes and stepped forward to stand in line with her team "I don't want to keep fighting!" she said in a strong voice.

Gem and Gemma didn't have to say anything, the seriousness of their expressions and the fact that they stepped forward in line with the others made where they stood on the issue very clear. DR K and Tenaya looked at the rangers in front of them and then sighed knowing they couldn't be persuaded differently.

"Very well, in two days time, we end this war…for good" Dr K said straightening her shoulders "and we can finally right the wrong I inflicted upon this world"

Each ranger smiled slightly and was about to thank their mentor when a loud snarl filled the room and then a pained howl. Each person in the room shot their gaze towards the steel door and then back at Dr K who was staring at one of her screen intently.

"Doc what's happening back there" Scott asked in a tired voice.

The young woman sighed and looked at her rangers with sad eyes "His human side is still fighting the change but its losing. The worst thing is the battle is slowly tearing apart Ziggy's mind"

Summer quickly wiped a tear from her cheek and then walked out of the room mumbling something about getting ready for the upcoming battle. Next to leave was Flynn who was no doubt going to stare and fiddle with the bright green bike that had belonged to the green ranger. Gem and Gemma left holding each other making a whimpering noise, Scott clapped Dillon on the shoulder and the black ranger just walked over to the door and slid down the wall humming the song that Ziggy had been obsessed with.

Suddenly the growling and howling stopped and Dillon heard a faint whine come through the door next to his head. The black ranger smiled sadly and hummed a little louder and suddenly the room was filled with Ziggy's weak but beautiful voice humming along with the black ranger who didn't do anything to stop the tears that were running down his cheeks.

Ziggy pulled away from the door when he heard Dillon start to sob, and buried his hands in his hair to stop the wave of pain that spread through his body. He was so tired, but he knew that if he slept too much his body would shut down and the wolf would win, and didn't he promise Dillon he'd keep fighting.

Smiled sadly Ziggy hugged his knees to his chest as he leant against his bed and quietly sung to himself "Early one morning, just as the sun was rising: I heard a maiden sing in the valley below" he sung and then grinned as Dr K directed the song through the speakers into his room.

H e may not have been able to talk to any of the team but hearing them and having them do things like this for them was enough to keep him sane, but he couldn't help but wonder for how long.

The next two days passed extremely fast for the rangers who were in a flurry of activity getting ready to storm Venjix's palace out in the wastes. But they were now ready and getting ready to head out with Tenaya who seemed to be extremely nervous about going back to the place that had practically killed her when she had tried to escape, but as soon as Dillon put a hand on her shoulder and nodded at her once the ex-attack bot seemed to calm and they each turned to Dr K who smiled at them tiredly.

"well I can't help but feel a little nervous" she said and then shot Ziggy's door an anxious glance before she straighten and turned back to her operational ranger. "We have lost much and fought hard, but today we will strike and we will destroy Venjix forever"

Scott saluted their mentor which each ranger quickly mimicked before they each turned to their cars and jumped in before they each peeled out of the garage. Once they were all gone Dr K rushed to Ziggy's door and activated the mic on the inside.

'Ziggy we have a problem" she said in a scared voice.

It took a moment for the ex-green ranger to reply but when he did it was with a deep guttural voice that confirmed that he hadn't been sleeping much. "What is it doc?"

The young woman swallowed and pressed her palm to the door "The team has gone to finish Venjix, but they can't do it, not without the last ranger" she said in a hurried voice.

Ziggy growled and Dr K winced at the beastly sound he was emitting "Now is not a good time" he snarled and then the mic was shut off on Ziggy's end.

Dr K stared at the door for a moment before she bit her lip and stepped away from the door and then over to her computer screen where the program which would morph Ziggy with his wolf genes was finished and waiting to be activated. Sighing the young woman ignored the screen and turned to her other screens where her ranger statuses were displayed.

"Please let it be enough" she prayed.

The drive to the palace was tense and each ranger was focused on their own thing, but as soon as they got a little more than half way they were attacked by grinders. Quickly morphing they took care of them, but not without injury, Scott had twisted his ankle and Flynn was sure that if he was hit once more on his wrist that it would be broken.

Deciding to leave the vehicles where they were the six rangers plus Tenaya began the slow trek to the large mechanical palace. When the monstrosity was in sight each of the rangers looked at each other a final time before Scott took action.

"Well guys…it's been an honor" he said in a strong voice, one which you would expect from a hardened leader.

Dillon nodded and then took a deep breath. Then as one the seven of them descended on palace and their armies. The ranger were quickly surrounded by grinders which they dealt with easily, it wasn't until Crush and Smash raced out onto the battle field that the fight took a turn for the worst.

Flynn was right when he had said that he might have broken his wrist because as soon as Crush gripped it, it snapped like a twig making the bluer anger grit his teeth against the pain and lash out at the bulky general with a vicious kick. Seeing his plight Tenaya quickly rushed over to help him before radioing Dr K.

"K we got bad news, Flynn has broken his wrist" she said as she fought back the general she had hated the most.

"_Stay by his side Tenaya we only have one shot at this, I fear the team may have to split up" _Dr K snapped from her ear piece making her grimace.

"Got it" she said before turning off her ear piece.

Scott" She roared: the red leader who swung her way for a moment to show her he was listening, "Take Dillon and the twins and go ahead, Summer Flynn and I got this" she said delivering a brutal kick to crush's face making him fly into the sand a few meters away.

The red ranger nodded and then took the three other rangers deep inside the palace where they came face to face with a panther looking machine which snarled and clawed at them. Gem and Gemma pushed the red and Black ranger passed and then settled into fighting stances.

"Go on ahead-" Gem said

"We got this" The silver ranger finished for her brother.

Scott looked at Dillon and then nodded to the twins and rushed off down the hall. Gem and Gemma turned to the cat like attack bot and grinned at each other.

"You wanna lay" gem mocked

"Little Kitty" Gemma said and then the panther leapt.

The cat snarled at the gold Ranger who leapt on its back and Gemma ran underneath it and was about to strike when Dr K's joyful voice flowed through the com link.

"_Don't worry rangers: help is on the way"_

Ziggy listened to Tenaya's scared radio transmission and then dragged himself over to the mic and pressed the on button "Doc talk to me" he croaked

"It's bad" she said in a trembling voice "Flynn has a broken wrist and the team had to split up so they could actually enter the palace"

The green ranger sighed and leant against the cool wall before making up his mind "Doc before when you asked me to fight. Did you have a way to get me out of here" he gritted out as his inner wolf howled and trashed in his blood.

"Yes, I've created a program which will permanently bond you with you wolf genes making you the perfect blend of wolf and human"

Ziggy looked down at his hands and swallowed tightly "doc I need you to activate the program now" he said in a firm voice.

A moment passed before the young woman replied "Are you sure Ranger green, if I do this there is no going back later" Ziggy grinned as she referred to him by his old title and straightened his shoulders.

'Do it" he ordered.

Dr K sighed and then he heard her relieved muttering "very well" she said and then the computerized voice flowed through his speakers.

"_Ranger Green Wolf/Human gene fusion-begin now" _

Ziggy took a deep breath and suddenly white hot pain flared through his body. His teeth felt like they were being ripped from his gums, his nose left like he had just snorted acid, his eyes felt like he had just poked them with a white hot poker and his muscles felt like they were being ripped apart. The young man left out a feral roar and then it all just stopped, and everything was clearer and sharper.

"Ziggy?" Dr K asked nervously "Are you okay"

The green ranger rolled his shoulder and nodded "Yeah doc, open the doors" he said.

The young woman unlocked the doors and when they swung open she rushed into Ziggy's awaiting arms before handing him his old ranger jacket and morphor. It wasn't until he smiled that the young genius spotted the elongated canines and his more golden brown eyes.

"You look practically the same" she confirmed and then followed him over to the nitro bike and handed him his helmet.

"Yeah what'd you expect, for me to have doggy ears" he joked as he started up the bike sighing happily at its comforting roar. Dr k rolled her eyes at the young rangers joke and stepped back when he pulled the helmet on obscuring his face from view behind the visor.

"Remember Venjix is out for blood" she warned.

Ziggy nodded and then revved his engine once "Good. Because so am I" he growled and the blurred out of the garage and out into the city.

Dr K watched as he became nothing but a green blur and then ran to her computer where she saw Gem and Gemma now fighting some sort of panther bot. grinning she put her ear piece back in her ear and cleared her throat and then opened all com links.

"Don't worry help is on the way" she said beaming as she looked at Ziggy's ranger screen, which had his new status as a genetically re-mastered and altered Bio-weapon human in the spot under his name where: Unknown used to be.

Sand flew passed Ziggy as he pushed his bike to the limit. He didn't know how long he could keep going at this pace but he did know that his team needed him. The thing that made him so giddy about this next fight was that for once in his life he felt complete. He didn't feel like he was missing something, he didn't feel like he needed something more he felt at peace.

Skidding to a stop when he spotted the fury Ziggy dismounted his bike and then radioed into to Dr K "Ah doc I just found the others cars, what's going on here" he asked in an edgy voice.

"_Keep going Ranger Green. The others are about half an hour forward and hurry I don't think that they will be able to last much longer" _Ziggy nodded and then looked down at his morphor.

"RPM: Get in Gear" he called and then he was enveloped in the calm warm aura that belonged to ranger Green. "It's good to be back!" he called and then began to run in the direction of the palace.

When the sounds of fighting reached his ears the younger ranger stopped and crawled over the next sand dune to get a good look on the scene down below. But when he saw Tenaya's bruised and bloody form and Flynn's broken one he let out a feral snarl and leapt into the fray below not caring about any damage he sustained.

"Ziggy?" Summer shouted when she saw the agile fighter cut his way to Flynn's side.

The Green ranger saluted her quickly before he lifted the blue ranger up and then began to move to an outcropping of steel with Tenaya clearing the way for him. Placing his friend down carefully Ziggy gripped his shoulder in comradeship and then looked at Tenaya who was breathing heavily.

"Look after Flynn I'll go and help the others" he said and then turned to Summer who was gripping her upper arm tightly. Smiling at the girl he hugged her once before giving her a sad nod "Fight to the end right?"

The Yellow ranger sucked in a ragged breath and then nodded before gripping his forearm "Fight to the end" she said and then turned back to the battle "You coming Tenaya?"

Ziggy took a calming breath and then raced into the palace. A few minutes in he froze when he saw the two limping and broken forms of Gem and Gemma sliding down the wall a destroyed and broken panther attack-bot in pieces of to the side.

"Gem! Gemma!" he shouted in fear and rushed to their sides.

The gold and silver Rangers-who had lost their helmets sometime in the battle smiled up at their young brother and then at each other "Go, we'll" Gem said

"Be fine" Gemma said sucking in a pained breath.

The green ranger pulled their foreheads to rest on his own and gripped them tightly against him "I will finish this I promise you" he whispered to them and then stood up and face the direction where Scott's and Dillon's scent was wafting from.

Growling low in his throat he ran down the halls and then encountered a large attack-bot in the form of a dinosaur, "Look you caught me at a really bad time" he snarled and leapt for the beast.

"_Ranger Green you must hurry, Scott and Dillon have encountered Venjix's material body and have engaged him in battle" _Dr K said of the com.

Ziggy growled in frustration and then summoned up all the wolf I him and punched his hand through the dinosaur's eyes and into the chip in its head. "I'm on it" he said ripping the chip out making the Tyrannosaurus fall down.

Wiping his oil stained hand on the wall next to him Ziggy took off down the halls again until he reach a large cavern where a large robot was battling an injuried Dillon and all conscious Scott. The smug expression on the machine's face was enough to identify him to the green ranger.

"Oi Venjix!"

Dillon froze as the voice rang out around the cavern and turned towards it, he swore when he saw the blood and oil stained form of the green ranger standing in the entrance of the carven staring at his creator he was going to cry.

"Interesting your bio-field doesn't represent that of a human" Venjix commented and then pushed Scott off where he slammed into a wall and didn't get up, the only sign of life being the moan of pain that resounded out of his chest.

The green ranger jumped towards them and landed in a crouch a meter away from them before letting out a low growl "Because I'm so much more than a human" he said and Dillon knew what had happened to his friend: he and the wolf were one.

This caught Venjix's attention and he gripped Dillon's throat and threw him over by Scott before turning towards the younger man "By your readings I can already tell you are no hybrid" he commented lightly. "Could you be the special little boy that survived the Gene fusion program?"

Ziggy raised his hands in a defensive pose and let out a deep growl "Oh I'm so much more than a experiment" he said and then leapt at the virus wanting to beat it into nothingness.

Venjix caught Ziggy and slammed him to the ground cracking his visor, and then as a retaliation Ziggy buried his hand into the shoulder cavity of the robot and pulled out a bunch of wires making the machine haul him up and then deliver a strong punch to his stomach. Gasping from the force of the attack Ziggy wasn't able to defend himself from the Knee that came up into his face making him stumble backwards.

"Well I'm a little disappointed really" Venjix said ignoring the sparking that was coming from his shoulder as he approached Ziggy "You were supposed to be some fierce hybrid, both animal and human but all I see if a boy playing dress up"

Ziggy felt the snarl and more feral side of him come to the surface at these words and for once didn't fight the feeling and let the best take over and n his mind it was as if something slid into place and as soon as Venjix was within distance he lashed out with his hand and grabbed him on the hip strut.

"Huh?" the machine said dumbly

The green ranger grinned happily and then used his grip on the robot and his upper body strength to swing himself up and twist his legs up so he could deliver a flashy and powerful kick to the machines. when the kick connected a loud crunch echoed through the cavern and Venjix let out a howl of pain before grabbing Ziggy by the thigh and slammed him face down on the floor making some of the glass in his visor fall away revealing his wolven eyes to his opponent.

Ziggy looked at the damage he had inflicted and let out a satisfied growl before he straightened from the crouch he was in. Both he and Venjix knew that this battle was more than just a fight to the death it was a battle of the species, if Ziggy lost then Humanity had no chance as he was the ultimate bio-genetic weapon.

"You little mutt" Venjix roared.

The insult made Ziggy's hackles rise and with a loud snarl he leapt towards the machine and buried his hand in the shoulder wound he had already made. The Virus grinned at him and then brought his large hand down onto his shoulder making it crack painfully. Ziggy snarled and then flipped making his shoulder crack even more but managed to kick the robot in the neck taking out its voice box.

"_Ranger Green you've sustain multiple injuries I suggest you take care of this body now so you can take out the tower quickly" _Dr K said urgently.

Ziggy nodded and then summoned his Nitro axe and swung it up onto his injured shoulder like he would a baseball bat and pointed at the now mute and made a come and get me motion. The Robot surged towards him and struck down trying to break his other shoulder, but met the blade of the nitro axe instead.

The green ranger jumped up and swung his axe down on the injured shoulder of the machine and cleaved it off the robot's form making him let out a slight roar of pain. Heaving a tired breath from his body Ziggy collapsed onto his axe using it to support him up when Dillon and Scott where by his side helping him back up.

"Guys?"

The red ranger looked at the battered green ranger and patted his head fondly before he turned to the evil machine "Thanks for keeping him busy for us Zig" he said summoning his street saber.

"But we're all better now so, now we got your back" Dillon said as he called forth his blaster and rested it on his shoulder like Ziggy did with his axe.

The younger ranger swung his axe up and then machine face the three battered ranger with furious optics and then surged forward. Scott faced the beast head on while Dillon flipped over his back and shot him in the leg struts making him fall to his knees.

"Ziggy now!" Scott shouted.

The green ranger nodded and then jumped up before slashing down with his axe cutting right through the main body of the robot. Venjix let out another silent scream and then its eyes faded to black and he collapsed.

"_rangers black and green quickly!" _Dr K said urgently.

Dillon hauled Ziggy to his feet and then connected their weapons together. But the weight of the weapon seemed to be too much and the two of them stumbled under the weight of it until they felt several pairs of hands helping them hoist it up. Looking to their sides Ziggy found that the whole team and pulled themselves to their sides and were helping them support the large weapon.

"let's finish this" Summer said her suit torn and ripped from the amount of grinders she fought.

Flynn who had pulled himself up off the ground nodded. Scott looked at the two rangers and saluted them "Go on" he said "we got your backs"

Ziggy and Dillon looked at each other and then summoned the last of their energy making their weapon light up brightly "Every give us all your energy" Ziggy said looking back at the other rangers.

Each ranger nodded and suddenly the large weapon began to shine a bright white, grinning Dillon looked over at Ziggy who winked at him with his one visible eyes and then as one they called out their new and improved attack.

"Shinning Imperial blast" then a large white glimmering blast resonated from the cannon and struck the large tower in front of them.

The rangers watched in awe as their attack turned the large tower into nothing but dust, when the light faded from the cannon each of the ranger stared at the spot where their greatest rival used to stand.

"_Ranger….Congratulations: you just beat Venjix" _Dr K said in an emotionally joyful voice.

Ziggy looked at his shaking hands and then let out a loud cheer which then made the others start, Dillon finished hugging Flynn when Ziggy's helmet faded completely from view, taking a deep breath he tapped the young ranger on the shoulder.

"Oi wolf boy" he said with a smirk.

The green ranger slowly turned around and stared at Dillon with a beaming smile "Yeah machine man?"

Dillon stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Ziggy's waist and pulled him flush against me "Nothing I just wanted to say hi" he said and then caught Ziggy's pleased smile with his own and kissed his with all the passion he'd locked up for three weeks making the other ranger wolf whistle and cheer happily.

When Dillon finally pulled back Ziggy caressed his cheek tenderly and smiled at him warmly "I missed you too" he whispered and buried his face in Dillon's chest.

When the rangers arrived back at the Garage Dr K was waiting for them all and grabbed Ziggy in a tight hug when he dismounted his bike. The other rangers all hugged him tightly and Dillon even slung his arm around his shoulders when they entered the ranger room where Scott's father was waiting.

"Dad?" Scott asked in confusion.

The colonel looked at the rangers with pride and then focused on Ziggy and then nodded "You each did your job brilliantly" he said with a firm voice and then saluted them with a smile that the red ranger hadn't seen since Venjix had attacked.

Scott smiled tearfully and then saluted him back, Ziggy took a step forward until he was in line with his leader and then saluted the man with a bright smile, Flynn was next and saluted him with his good wrist who was followed by the yellow ranger and then the boom twins and finally Dillon, each smiling at him in their own way.

"It's been a honor" Coronel Manson said and then saluted them letting his hand fall to his side, and then turned to Dr K. "If I may I would like to talk to you privately" The young woman nodded and motioned to the ranger room.

"If I can get a word with each of you separately later that would make my life very easy" he added as he followed the young genius into the ranger room.

Each of the rangers nodded and then Ziggy stretched and looked at his new family with a hopeful look "Guys I know we're all tired and want to sleep but I was hoping that I could share something with each of you" he asked taking Dillon's hand.

The black ranger nodded and gave him a confused look, "Sure Zig, what is it?"

The green ranger smiled and then looked at each of the other rangers who were each giving him bright smiles "I want to show you all where I meet Cid" he said and all the rangers gave him shocked looks "I want to show you Kilika"

The ride to Kilika took all of thirty minutes, but when they were there Ziggy took them to the stone grave he had made for the man who had taken him in and then laid his goggled on the top of them after giving them a loving kiss.

"Cid thank you" he whispered "but I don't need these anymore"

Ziggy got up and walked back to Summer who was holding her arms open lovingly. Dillon looked at him and then back at the grave before he walked up to it making the other rangers frown at him in confusion.

"Cid" the black ranger said in a wavering voice "I just want to…to thank you" he said clearing his throat and wiped at his eyes "I never met you, but if it wasn't for you I would never have met Ziggy, and without Ziggy….I can't imagine life without him." He said letting out a huge breath and then looked back at Ziggy who was holding a hand to his mouth holding back his tears, giving him a small smile Dillon turned back to the grave "you don't have to worry about him anymore: I'll look after him" he whispered and then walked back to the team.

Ziggy waited until he was a meter or so away from him before he launched himself at him and kissed his desperately "I love you, I truly do" he whispered tearfully and clutched Dillon to him tighter even as the other rangers watched them happily: and if the sun burned a little brighter after this everyone chalked this up to the radiation leaving the air.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title:** The True Meaning of Hero**  
><strong>**Author: **DemonicangelGREED**  
><strong>**Summary: **After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met an old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.**  
><strong>**Warnings: **Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Dillon/Ziggy

Epilogue 

The day after Venjix's defeat found all the rangers in the ranger room staring at the box that now held all their morphers, the last one to place theirs in was Ziggy who hesitated for a moment before giving Dr K a tearful grin and then put it in before giving it a loving stroke before stepping back into Dillon's arms.

"So" Summer said scuffing her shoes "No more rangers: what's next?" she said asking Dillon and Tenaya who shrugged.

"Dunno what about you?" the ex-attack bot asked Dr K.

The young woman cleared her throat and Scott, Summer and Ziggy stepped from their places and up to her side. "Well we four will be joining the army; apparently there is still some kind of Bio threat: something to do with the radiation from Venjix"

Flynn stared at them in shock and then laughed "You took the coronel up on his offer" he said in shock "I can't believe it.

Ziggy shrugged and smiled at him "So while we're protecting the city and all that what will you be doing?" he asked the remaining rangers.

Gem and Gemma smiled and slung an arm around Flynn and grinned "We're going-" Gem started

"To be working as-"Gemma cut in

"The military head mechanics" Flynn finished sticking his tongue out at the shocked twins who then laughed and hugged him tightly.

Ziggy laughed and then turned to Dillon who was smiling warmly "and you, what will the great Dillon Kane be doing" he asked using Dillon's chosen new last name.

The ex-black ranger grinned and looked at his sister who nodded excitedly "Tenaya and I are going to start up a dojo" he said turning to face his boyfriend "You know calm the mind and body at once right?"

The young man nodded and then walked into his arms as the others each left to either pack or to plan out what they were going to be doing.

"So Ziggy Grover will I see you at my dojo at all?" Dillon asked brushing a few strands of hair out of his boyfriends face.

The ex-green ranger hummed and then nodded "I think so, I gotta stay fit: I am a solider now you know" he said in a mocking serious voice.

Dillon laughed and then kissed him passionately before hugging him tight against him "I love you Ziggy Grover" he said in a trembling voice "And I always will"

The younger man pulled back and kissed Dillon's forehead sweetly before smiling at him warmly "And Dillon Kane: I love you machine and all" he whispered before burying himself in the elder mans protective embrace.

Flynn looked at the two rangers and smiled sadly as they held each other like the other was disappearing.

"They look good together don't they" The ex-blue ranger looked behind him and smiled when he saw Summer standing behind him watching the loving couple.

"Yeah totally absorbed with each other" Flynn said and then smiled at the young woman next to him "I'm happy for them if anyone deserves happiness it's those two" he admitted.

The ex-yellow ranger stepped in front of him making him swallow nervously "And you Flynn do you deserve to be happy?" she asked in a kind voice staring up at him through her lashes.

The blue ranger nodded and Summer reached up and pressed her lips to his tentatively "Good because I think so too" she whispered and then kissed him again.

Scott looked out at the city of Conith and then down at the picture of his team in his hands, smiling he held it to him tightly and watched as Gem and Gemma played outside the garage while Dr K watched them with a warm smile on her face. When Dillon and Ziggy came out with the elder man's arms around the younger man's waist he couldn't stop the smile that started to grow and only got bigger when Summer and Flynn walked out holding hands.

"Nice family you got here Ace" Scott turned around and saw his dad staring down at the group of rangers down below.

The red ranger turned back to the people below and grinned "Yeah I couldn't have asked for better" he said placing the image on the roof top.

The elder Manson sighed and put his hand on his son's shoulder "The only thing I regret is that I'm not late to become a part of that family" he said

Scott gave his dad a big smile and shook his head "It's never too late for you to make amends dad" he said and then hugged his father tightly and suddenly he knew everything would be okay.


End file.
